Burned and Broken
by AngelWings0409
Summary: When Madara turns his back on the Akatsuki they have no choice but to turn to Konoha for help but Konoha has troubles of their own and the Akatsuki must now help their new found ally. T for language. Au
1. Alliance

**Chapter 1: Alliance**

Two chuunin shinobi stood at the west gate of Konoha conversing through their shift until one said "Man, I'm so bored. Something could at least happen once in a while you know?" Leaning against the wall with his hands behind his head, his face clearly showing his boredom, he gave a sigh.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. But even if something does happen the jounin always get sent. It's not exactly fair." The other agreed with a yawn.

"Hey, I think we just got our wish." The first shinobi spoke with a smile, pointing towards the pathway. Sure enough there were figures in cloaks and hats, faces hidden, walking towards the gate. The closer they got the more the smile of the shinobi disappeared off his face. "They're the akatsuki. Look at the clouds on their cloaks."

"Are they going to attack? This is bad, we should call for backup."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll go."

Just as his back was turned a male voice was heard "Stop, we are not here to fight." The shinobi looked at his partner "What are you waiting for? Go!" Suddenly something came out the ground that held their feet. The two looked down and saw it was tentacles of some sort and it was getting tighter the more they struggled.

"I told you to stop. Now if you want to live then listen to what I'm about to say." The same voice said, coming from the one in front of the group. Seeing the unsure look on their faces a female voice said "If I were you I'd listen to him as he really will kill you." The two shinobi exchanged glances but nodded.

"Now, we are not here to attack this village. Just bring your hokage here. You, the one who wanted to run, go fetch her." The shinobi weighed his chances and decided it was best to listen to what they were saying. The tentacles around the shinobi's feet loosened and he immediately ran to the hokage tower.

…

Tsunade walked down the empty halls of the hokage tower, the clacking sound of her heels echoing through the halls, to start off with her daily checkups. She didn't know why she was doing it as she usually skipped them but she just felt like it today. It was a lovely day so far, for her that is, but Tsunade knew it wouldn't last for long. Sooner or later someone would come up with a huge stack of papers needing her stamp of approval or come ask for a mission and during those times she would wonder why she chose to be hokage. She already had enough work and she didn't need more. Her intuition was usually right and sure enough a shinobi appeared in front of her.

She gave him a glance and continued walking on; she was in no mood for nonsense. The shinobi followed her faithfully while trying to get her attention "Tsunade-sama, I have urgent news." This caught her attention but she still walked on. "What is it?" She replied hiding her curiosity. "You are needed immediately at the west gate. The Akatsuki are asking for you personally." "**WHAT?** Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Tsunade immediately changed her direction to a nearby window and jumped out. The shinobi shook his head with his arms crossed and didn't bother replying.

Tsunade headed to the west gate at full speed, she couldn't waste more time than she already had. She couldn't go alone though and stopped at Kakashi's house. She banged on the door a few times before shouting "KAKASHI GET YOUR LAZY ASS OUT HERE!" She knew it was his day off and he usually slept in on his days off but surprisingly he was dressed in his uniform and trademark book in hand when he opened the door. "Yes, Tsunade-s-." "Come!" Tsunade interrupted and grabbed his arm and she continued to her destination still dragging a protesting Kakashi.

He pulled his arm out her grasp and kept up with her pace, knowing she wouldn't come to him for nothing. Tsunade then explained briefly what had occurred and his eyes widened slightly. They travelled in silence till they got to the gate. The Akatsuki were all sitting against trees waiting for them and one of them said "It's about time, yeah."

…

Tsunade reread the scroll in her hands; eyebrows furrowed, and looked up. The hokage room had a few other people in who Tsunade had sent for. Tsunade sat in her desk. To Tsunade's right stood Shizune with Tonton. To her left was Kakashi leaning against the wall. On the right side of the room were Naruto, Sakura, Neji, Shikamaru and Ino. On the left side of the room were Shikaku and Inoichi. In the middle of the room stood all the members of the Akatsuki except Zetsu, who apparently had been working with Madara all the time, Sasori, him being dead, and Tobi.

Tsunade looked back at the scroll deep in thought. Was it a good idea to agree? Could she trust them? The scroll in her hands was a request from the Akatsuki to form an alliance with Konoha because to fight Madara they needed more help. Tsunade couldn't deny the fact that Madara was a very powerful shinobi, maybe even the most powerful at the moment, but to agree to form an alliance with the Akatsuki was a dangerous idea. Scratch that, it was damn strange that they were asking for an alliance after all the times they went after Naruto.

Chewing her lip she looked to Shikaku for assistance. She handed him the scroll and he read with a raised eyebrow. He looked up from the scroll and inquired "Now what happens if Madara is possibly defeated? Will this alliance be terminated?" Pein shook his head and said "Madara was the main reason we collected the biju and we see no reason to do so anymore. That and some of the members will be returning to their countries if given the permission from their kage." Shikaku gave her a nod and she sighed in defeat. "Okay fine, we will form this alliance but if anyone of you even dares to harm my people I will not hesitate to break off the alliance and kill you."

"I assure you no one will harm your people; I will make sure of that." Pein said while glaring at his men. Tsunade signed the scroll and said "I see everyone also signed this scroll."

Pein shrugged and, looking straight at Hidan, said "It was rather a … hassle to get them to agree to this alliance. They were mostly against it." They had made sure to stitch Hidan's mouth closed before they came here since no one was in the mood for his blabbering, that and the fact that he could ruin things for them with his insults.

"Tsunade-baachan, are you sure about this? It doesn't seem safe to trust these guys." Naruto said while glaring at Pein. "I actually agree with Naruto on this. Is this the right decision to make, Tsunade-sama?" Neji said. Pein looked to Naruto then back at Tsunade and before she could reply said "This alliance could benefit us all and if we wanted to destroy this village we would have done it a long time ago." Naruto wanted to say something more but Sakura elbowed him in the ribs to get him to keep quiet.

The silence went on for a moment and Naruto was giving evil looks at the akatsuki who all just ignored him except Hidan who glared right back. "It's all so strange, yeah." said Deidara, breaking the silence, while looking at his feet. "It's hard to believe the annoying brat that followed me around is one of the most powerful shinobi in existence."

"Yeah, we should have known that annoying voice and hyperactivity was just a façade. That annoying brat cost us a fortune for the all damage he did." Kakuzu complained with a grumble. There were murmurs of agreement from the members, clearly remembering terrible times with Tobi.

Suddenly there was an explosion from outside and Tsunade immediately looked outside her window. There was smoke coming from the middle of the village and there more explosions making buildings collapse. The akatsuki looked at Deidara and he shook his head violently and said "It wasn't me, yeah." An ANBU shinobi appeared in front of Tsunade's desk and explained the situation. "Lady Tsunade, Root is attacking the village!" Naruto and Sakura looked at each other with one person in their mind: Sai.

"What? It's Danzou's doing, the old goat!" Tsunade said and stood up heading to the door. "Send all shinobi to defend the village. Sakura, Shizune, Ino, come with me. The hospital will need us. Naruto, Kakashi, Neji, go find Danzou and capture him. And you Akatsuki, you wanted an alliance so you help us now." And with that she left the room with the three women following her.

The Konoha shinobi gave one final look at the Akatsuki before leaving through the window. Hidan elbowed Kakuzu and when he had Kakuzu's attention pointed to his lips. Kakuzu sighed and removed the stitches and Hidan said "Fucking finally. It's time for some fucking action." while walking towards the window with his trademark grin. Pein pulled him back and said "Search for injured civilians and shinobi and bring them to the hospital. That goes for everyone and _no killing_. Also, remove your cloaks before everyone panics."

"But if they're going to die I can sacrifice them right?" Hidan asked. Pein gave him one glare and Hidan said "Fine! Sheesh, you don't have to fucking look at me like that." Kakuzu sighed at his partner's stupidity and gave him a warning look. Hidan shrugged and removed his cloak before jumping out the window. The rest all followed and removed their cloaks, dumping it in the room, before jumping out the window.

…

Naruto, Neji and Kakashi jumped from building to building looking for Danzou. Naruto was still bemused with the events that happened during the day and Root attacking the village just made everything worse. What was Danzou thinking, attacking his home village? Was he crazy or something? Maybe the old age finally got to him, the old bat. Naruto sighed and wondered whether Sai was helping Danzou with whatever he was planning. He looked up to see dark gray clouds taking over the once clear blue sky, threatening to burst at any moment and sighed again. Things couldn't get any worse could it?

Kakashi had his sharingan activated and Neji had his byakugan activated, both searching for the chakra of Danzou. They had already checked the council's building and homes along with Koharu's and Homura's and it was getting bothersome. It was as if Danzou had planned it all out. Neji then said "I've spotted him. He is 12 km away east in a clearing. He is not moving and is appearing to be waiting for something." "Right, let's go." Kakashi said and the three sped towards Danzou.

…

Sakura darted from patient to patient doing her best to heal them as best she could just to stabilize them enough for them to move. She had to reserve her chakra for more patients as there were more arriving every few minutes brought in by akatsuki members. There was no more room for patients in beds and they now had to be placed on the floor. She could still hear explosions now and then but her mind was busy already. She was sweating heavily and, looking up; Ino was in no better condition, as was Shizune. Tsunade and Shizune dealt with the more heavy wounds while Ino and Sakura tended to the minor injuries.

After what seemed like forever the flow of patients seemed to decrease and Sakura sighed in relief. She was exhausted along with everyone else and wiped her forehead. She was sad that they had lost a few ninja and folk but the explosions seemed to have stopped for the time being. "Right, I'm going to help Kakashi and Naruto. Sakura, Ino stay here in case anything else happens." Tsunade said. "But Shishou, your chakra…" Sakura protested. Tsunade just waved her away and walked towards the exit. It was now or never to find out what was happening.

…

Hinata wiped her forehead and looked at the mess that was earlier the bustling village of Konoha. The buildings were reduced to piles of rubble and while some were lucky to be standing, were still damaged in some way. There were bodies of the enemy scattered around and she herself was exhausted and had a few wounds but was not anything serious. The strange thing was, the enemy had suddenly just retreated and had left their wounded to die. Yamato, Lee, Tenten, Kiba and Shino were all fighting alongside her and were catching their breath. The only one who was hurt badly was Lee who had a broken leg. Kiba looked around and said "They were Konoha shinobi right? So why were they attacking the village?"

Tenten shrugged while Shino and Hinata said nothing. It was a long day for all of them. "Let's get Lee to the hospital before it gets worse." Tenten said and slung one of Lee's arms over her shoulder while Kiba took the other arm. The three headed towards the hospital with Yamato following. Hinata looked up, the sky was now completely gray, and she knew things couldn't be good. Using her byakugan she searched for the one person always on her mind and, picking up his chakra, ran towards it with a confused Shino calling after her but following anyway.

…

Naruto, Kakashi and Neji arrived at Danzou's location only to find the elder had a small smile on his face. He stated "It's about time you came. I was getting tired of waiting." "Danzou, what have you _done_?!" Naruto shouted. "I was just doing someone a favour. Now where is our main guest? Ah, here she comes now." Just as he spoke Tsunade arrived and she did not look happy to see Danzou. Soon after Hinata arrived with Shino and was relieved to see Naruto was fine. A light drizzle had started.

"Anyway… Konoha is going to be destroyed, along with the villagers and shinobi by next week. Thereafter we will be killing any shinobi we see skulking around. Konoha will be no more and will be erased from all existence. Why? Because it and along with everyone else is in the way of a certain someone's plan." Danzou answered whatever questions everyone had in those few sentences. "Then we will just kill you right now!" Tsunade shouted and everyone took battle stances. "That would just null the use of everything I did so I don't think that will be happening anytime soon." Rain started falling.

With that he made a signal and Root shinobi came from all directions, surrounding Naruto and everyone else. "So that's why they just suddenly retreated." Hinata thought. Tsunade, Hinata and Shino stood back to back watching their enemy closely and so did Naruto, Kakashi and Neji. "Kill them." Danzou ordered and left into the shadows. Just as his men were about to attack Hinata felt someone pulling her up and heard:

"Katsu!" The Root shinobi were blown up, bodies flying everywhere, along with screams and curses. Hinata opened her eyes to find herself in a nearby tree as was everyone else but in different trees. "Just in time, yeah." Hinata heard behind her and found her savior was none other than Deidara. "T-Thank you." She said and Deidara replied "No problem, yeah. Where'd that old geezer go?"

**Byakugan**

Hinata searched around only to find that Danzou had completely disappeared. She shook her head and Deidara sighed and shouted to the other members "He's gone. No trace left, yeah!" Hinata heard grumbles and jumped down from the tree as did everyone else. "What are we going to do…?" Naruto asked. "We have to evacuate. As much as I don't want to, Danzou wasn't joking. Let's go back to the village and get everyone together. I want all shinobi at this spot tomorrow." Tsunade replied with a solemn expression. Rain fell down heavily and everyone rushed to get back to their village.

**A/N: Just something that has been on my mind for a while. I don't think it's good but it won't leave me alone so I just had to post it.**


	2. Planning

**Chapter 2: Planning**

Naruto awoke the next morning with a bad feeling. His small apartment was lucky enough to only have broken windows so his floors near the windows were a little wet from the rain. He got out of bed, freshened up and got dressed in his usual orange jumpsuit. Deciding he wanted to speak to Tsunade about a few things he had breakfast and headed out. The village, **his** village, looked terrible. Buildings were ruined and only those near the hokage tower were still standing.

He didn't like the idea of an evacuation. The village worked hard to get where it was now. Were they just going to abandon everything they had worked for? Naruto knew Tsunade wouldn't do anything like this without a good reason to and that was nagging at the back of his mind. Was Danzou that dangerous or was it his ally who was dangerous? Everyone knew Danzou's goal was to become hokage so why would he just drop his goal like that? He really did hate not knowing anything.

His train of thoughts was stopped when someone greeted him. "Yo." It was Kakashi and he didn't look very happy either. "Morning, Kakashi-sensei."

"Going to Tsunade?"

"Yeah, maybe she knows a few things."

"I doubt it. She was just as confused yesterday. We can't even blame the akatsuki for this because they helped us yesterday."

"I guess so but where was Sai during everything? No one saw him at all."

Kakashi didn't answer but he was also wondering where the pale shinobi had been. He was part of Root so maybe he knew a few things. The two were walking through the streets now and a few people were trying to salvage personal items. Naruto's day was spoiled already just by looking at his village. Maybe things would get better but he highly doubted it.

….

Tsunade walked to her office with Shizune by her side. "Where is Sasuke?"

"Still in prison Tsunade-sama. The prison is in good condition and no one has escaped."

"Good. His condition?"

"His eyes are healing well but he still won't join Konoha again."

Tsunade sighed. Sasuke was being a pain in the ass as always. No matter how much anyone tried to talk him into joining Konoha again it would just be for nothing. She kept Sakura away from him though because when Sakura was near him she was a walking bomb just waiting to explode. She thought back to when she had this conversation with Shizune when Sasuke had been captured six months ago.

**Flashback**

"Sasuke has been captured? Where is he now?" Tsunade leaned forward from her desk in surprise at the news she had just heard.

"Yes, he is currently in prison with Kakashi and Naruto who are trying to change his mind about a few things. His followers have been put in different cells. Also we will be drugging his food to knock him out so we can perform the operation of severing his chakra paths to his eyes." Shizune replied.

"You really think he will fall for that?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's worth a try." Shizune said with a shrug.

Funny thing was he actually did fall for it. When Tsunade talked to Shizune again she had more news.

"His chakra paths to his eyes have been severed but he still has his vision although it is a bit blurry but it will heal in time. His hands also have chakra suppressing bracelets on."

"What about his lackeys?"

"The female gives orders to anyone and does not have much fighting ability but she is a sensory type. The one male's body can become liquid at will so we have also had chakra suppressing bracelets put on for him after he tried to escape once. The other male has a curse seal of Orochimaru and has a bit of a temper."

"Is he dangerous? If so have someone control the seal or get rid of it. Orochimaru has been dead for over a year now and we can't have his experiments running around."

"Right. Also Sakura can't be near Sasuke as she tends to shout a lot and take her anger out on him."

"Oh good grief." Tsunade rolled her eyes at her student's rash behavior.

**End Flashback**

They still kept Sakura away from Sasuke for safety purposes but they couldn't leave him to rot in jail while they leave Konoha. That and their enemies might have plans for him so it wasn't safe to leave him just anywhere. Tsunade knew what she was going to do. She had slept on it or rather stayed awake all night thinking about it since sleep evaded her. She had already dispatched shinobi to fetch Shikamaru and Kakashi and they would be arriving soon.

But first she needed that intimidating leader of akatsuki here to help her. Arriving at her office she sat at her desk and looked to Shizune. "Go fetch the akatsuki leader." Shizune left immediately to find Pein.

….

Sakura woke up to the sound of snores and soft breathing. Looking around she saw she had fallen asleep on a chair in the hospital and someone had placed a jacket on her. Ino was already awake and checking up people that were also awake. It was sad really, all the innocent people who always had to be hurt because of ninja who are insane or getting there. Sakura thought back to when Suna had attacked and shuddered. The village had also been in a terrible state after that.

"I see you're awake. Freshen up and help me replace these people's bandages." Ino said. Sakura did just that and when she returned asked Ino a question.

"Have you been outside again?"

"Yeah, it's horrible. I checked it out this morning since I was too tired yesterday. You should see for yourself before you get to work again, **Forehead."**

This drew a smile out from Sakura and she replied "If it's as horrible as you say then I don't want to see, **Pig, **but I wonder what Tsunade-sama is going to do." Ino smiled.

"Probably want to punch something."

"That is, honestly, possible. Her temper is worse than mine."

The two laughed a little and continued with their jobs, Sakura headed towards Lee to make sure his leg was alright. Gai was snoozing in a chair close by and Lee was sitting upright against the wall. "Morning, Lee-san." She said with a smile.

"Morning, Sakura-san. Is my leg alright, can I leave soon?"

Sakura shook her head but said "You can leave if you want to walk in crutches but only tomorrow."

"Okay, did Tenten leave?" Lee asked looking around.

"Yes, she left last night after you fell asleep but she said she'll be back later."

Lee nodded and let Sakura do her business, flinching now and then, as she checked his leg and replaced the splint and bandages. She then said she'd be back to check on him later and went to another patient.

….

"This sucks balls. Kakuzu, I'm hungry." Hidan complained.

"Shut up and go get your own food, runt." Kakuzu replied with a grumble.

"Tch, stupid old fart." Hidan stood up accidently stepping on Kisame. The group had decided to sleep in one of the deserted houses that were still standing and since it was relatively small with only two beds Pein, obviously, and Konan got beds while the others slept on the floor.

"Ouch, dammit." Kisame said.

"Suck it up, fish-face. Seriously, why did the bitch get a fucking bed? My back hurts like hell."

"Because she is a female now stop complaining or we will stitch your lips closed again." Pein answered from the doorway. Hidan decided not to say anything since having your lips stitched together was not a pleasant experience and neither was messing with Pein. There was a knock at the door and Hidan stepped over the sleeping bodies that were still not wearing their cloaks and went to answer it.

"What the fuck do you want?" Shizune stood at the door with a raised eyebrow. Now she knew why they had stitched his lips yesterday. She had just followed their chakra that led to this house since they hadn't bothered to hide it.

"Uh, Tsunade wants to see Pein." Shizune replied.

"Hey, Pein-in-the-ass! The old hag wants to see ya." Hidan shouted and then looked at Tonton in Shizune's arms. "Can I eat that? I'm starving." First this guy is blatantly rude when answering the door, then he disses her teacher and now he wants to eat her cute pet? Shizune resisted the urge to punch Hidan and just ignored him. Pein knocked on Konan's door and she came out already dressed. Then the two left with Shizune.

"Tch, she could've just said no. Stupid bitch." Hidan muttered and went to the fridge.

…

Shikamaru woke up when his father shook him awake.

"Dad? It's too early, leave me alone." He said and pulled the blankets over his head.

"Tsunade is asking for you. You really should go before your mother comes to get you."

That woke Shikamaru up and his father almost laughed at his son's fear of his mother if it wasn't for the fact that they were both scared of her. They weren't scared** of her,** more of what she would do. His father left the room and Shikamaru got dressed had breakfast and left. The times when Tsunade called on him were becoming more frequent and it was troublesome.

He strolled down the streets at his own comfortable pace. Some people were trying to repair their homes while others salvaged what they could. Shikamaru genuinely felt sorry for them. He doubted any of the other clan's homes have been damaged in any way like the Hyuuga or Inuzuka. The Nara hadn't had any problems and their forest was perfectly fine so it was all very strange. Very strange indeed and he doubted he would know the answers anytime soon.

…

Tsunade had been talking with Kakashi and Naruto when Shikamaru had come in.

"Ah, you're here. Just bear with me, we are waiting on two more people." Tsunade said. Shikamaru inwardly sighed. He could've still been snoozing if it wasn't for his dad who knew him inside out. Tsunade continued to talk to Kakashi and Naruto.

"So we're really going to evacuate, Tsunade-baachan?"

"Yes, but only the villagers and it will only be for the time being, unless you want the village completely destroyed by Danzou?"

"No, but…"

"Don't worry. If Danzou sees that there are no villagers or shinobi in the village maybe he won't destroy it."

"Wait, what did you mean only villagers will be evacuating, Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi questioned.

"Exactly what I said but don't worry, I have a plan." Tsunade said with a smile that made Kakashi's skin crawl. Then she said "That is one of the reasons I called Shikamaru here as he will be of much use."

"Me? Why didn't you just call my father?" Shikamaru asked.

"You have more knowledge on the ninja of your generation than your father." Before Shikamaru could reply Pein walked in with Konan and Shizune.

"Ah, good. We can begin now. Naruto, Shizune, sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You will argue too much about a few things." Tsunade said. Shizune frowned but said nothing and left. Naruto would've argued but Tsunade gave him a warning glare and he shut his mouth and scowled at a grinning Kakashi before leaving.

"Right then, shall we start?" Tsunade stated before taking out a few pages scribbled with notes.

….

Hinata walked out of the Hyuuga compound to see her older cousin walking out the entrance and called for him. When hearing her voice he stopped at the gate and waited for her as she ran to him. They greeted and then Hinata asked "Where are you going, Neji-niisan?"

"The hospital. I heard Lee was there so I'm going to visit him. Maybe Gai-sensei and Tenten will be there as well." He replied with a shrug.

"I see… then I'll come with you." Neji nodded and there was a momentary silence before Neji asked "Isn't it strange that the compound wasn't harmed in anyway?"

"Yes, it is rather strange. But our home is on the outer edge of the village… but then again so are all of the other clans. We should probably ask Shino-kun or Kiba-kun about it."

"Yeah, we can find them when we finish our visit." Hinata smiled and the two walked the rest of the journey in silence.

….

"Okay, so everything is concluded? Right then." Tsunade stated and began putting her notes away.

"So the only problem we have is food, right?" Kakashi said, "Food and … Sasuke."

"Yes, but I already know what to do with Sasuke. It's just the food."

"I doubt any of the shinobi would like to carry food during any of this…" Pein stated. That had Shikamaru thinking for a moment.

"That's it! No one would like to **carry** food but what if **something** **held** **it** for them? Tsunade-sama we should probably call Tenten." Shikamaru said.

"Tenten? Oh I see what you're getting at. Why don't you go get her? And hurry please." Tsunade said.

"That is not necessary. Konan can find this Tenten in a few minutes." Pein said. Pein nodded at Konan who disintegrated into thousands of sheets of paper who then neatly folded themselves into butterflies. These butterflies promptly left through the window to find Tenten.

….

Lee was chatting with Sakura, Ino and Tenten about back in the days when they were all brats. Lee would remember the times Tenten threw a fit over the smallest of things and when he pushed himself over the limit over a simple failure. Sakura would remember when Ino and she had fallen apart over Sasuke and the fierce rivalry between them. Ino would remember all the times she tried to get Chouji to stop eating as much and would end up accidently insulting him. Tenten would remember the huge ego Neji had that had been hurt by Naruto.

The four laughed about it and Tenten said "Hey look, a butterfly." She pointed at the butterfly that was flying above their heads.

"But why is it inside a hospital?" Sakura asked with a frown. Tenten was about to touch it when it flew out of her reach. Suddenly there were thousands of butterflies coming through the entrance and it was then that the group realized that it was paper butterflies when it starting unfolding and sticking together to form the shape of a head, then a body, then feet. A woman.

"You are Tenten, correct?" The woman asked the shocked girl.

"Y-yes…?" Tenten replied.

"Okay, you are to come to the hokage's office immediately as she has a request for you. Get there as fast as you can." With that the woman once again dissolved into butterflies that exited out the entrance with a surprised Tenten following behind.

….

Tsunade continued going over her plan with Pein, Kakashi and Shikamaru, trying to find any flaws that might cause difficulties. The only flaw that they could come up with was team work. Tsunade insisted a good yelling would make the plan work but the three men were not convinced. Tsunade was frustrated and she really wanted to punch something but she couldn't get out at the moment.

"So what are this Tenten's abilities?" Pein asked.

"She uses a type of teleportation jutsu. Instead of summoning animals she summons weapons. She can seal them away as well." Shikamaru said.

"Ah, I see what you're getting at." Pein said. They sat in silence for a few minutes, waiting on Konan and Tenten and when the two did arrive Konan came through the window while Tenten came through the door.

"Ah, Tenten you're here. I'm going to get straight to the point. You use teleportation jutsu, correct? Will it work with food if you sealed it away as well?"

"Um, I don't know, Tsunade-sama. But I could try it." Tenten said with a shrug.

"Good, get to it right away." Tsunade said. There was a bird's cry by the window and when Tsunade looked it was the familiar bird used by Sai. She immediately took out a scroll and the ink birds flew into the scroll and becoming words.

**Tsunade-sama**

**I have interesting news though it would be best if I told you in person as it is quite dangerous to say over messages. I will just say that I was not part of **anything **that was planned by Danzou. I will be returning in a few hours.**

**Sai**

…

**A/N: lol it was fun to write the part with Hidan. Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did ^.^. and to the reviewer who said plot was too fast, I slowed it down a little. Hope it was good enough.**


	3. Annoying

**A/N: A break from the plot with our favourite S-rank criminal group :D. Actually more Deidara but whatever. **

**Chapter 3: Annoying.**

Deidara was willing to stuff socks in his ears right now. Hidan had been complaining non-stop about anything and everything since Pein had left and even Itachi was telling the jashinist to shut up but of course he wouldn't listen. Deidara was tempted to shove clay in Hidan's mouth and blow him up. They were all sitting in the small lounge on the floor. Kakuzu was looking through a bingo book, possibly eyeing his next target, Itachi was reading a magazine and Deidara was too irritated to do anything.

"Hidan, shut up, yeah." Deidara said with a frown.

"Why the fuck should I Blondie?"

"Itachi, as much as I hate you, can't you put him in a genjutsu or something? Fry his brains out with amaterasu, yeah."

"Hn." Itachi was sorely tempted to do just that but he didn't fancy punishment for killing a member. He looked up from the magazine he was reading. Hidan was now picking on poor Kisame who was walking to the kitchen.

"Kakuzu, stitch his lips again." Itachi said.

"Gladly." Kakuzu replied and stalked over to Hidan who was still making fun of Kisame. When Hidan did notice Kakuzu he took a step back with every step Kakuzu took.

"Get the fuck away from me." Hidan said throwing random things that were in reach at Kakuzu.

Kakuzu then brightened up a little and said "Why don't we tie him up here and go out instead?"

"No way in hell. Leave me alone you old fart." Hidan said one last time before running out the house.

"At least he's gone now…" Kakuzu stated with a shrug and headed back to looking at his book.

"After hogging all the food, yeah." Deidara scowled as he was now at the fridge which was empty. His stomach gave a protesting growl and he sighed before saying "I'm heading out as well. I'm starving, yeah."

"If you've forgotten, the town has been blown up. What could possibly be left over?" Kakuzu said while looking up from his book.

"It's better than starving and being bored, yeah. Then again maybe there's a food stall still running." The bomber said and left. Deidara walked down the street eyeing the place with a frown. He walked to a nearby building that used to be a shop and just observed it.

"This place is a dump, yeah."

Something small but bright orange caught his eyes and he walked over. Whatever it was was stuck underneath rubble. He moved a few large pieces of debris to find something that just might make living with Hidan tolerable.

He searched for a few more pitying the other three members. Only finding two more he felt sorry for whoever was left without though he had a strong feeling it would be Kisame. Slipping the items in his pocket and smiled. He'd give it to them when he got home from lunch.

His stomach growled again and he scowled at it. Then he heard the voice of someone who he really hated at the moment.

"Hey, Blondie, wait up!" Deidara pretended not to hear him and walked on. When he heard running he broke into a sprint, running as far as possible from Hidan. In categories of annoyance Hidan could actually beat Tobi during one of his complaining periods and Deidara was in no mood for any of those.

….

After visiting the hospital Hinata left again with Neji. He had been a bit stumped when he found out Tenten had left just a few minutes before he came.

"Thank you Neji-niisan." Hinata said with a smile. Though Neji was very strict during training she knew she could trust him with anything. They chatted for a while then Hinata felt an-oh-so familiar chakra.

"Sorry, Neji-nii but I have to go." Neji raised an eyebrow at this sudden statement but said nothing about it. Hinata said goodbye and ran.

….

After running a good distance and not hearing Hidan's voice Deidara saw a food stall up ahead and strolled over. It was apparently a ramen stand but the bomber would go for anything at the moment. Taking a seat and ordering one bowl he saw the kid with blonde hair that was in the hokage's office when they were all there. Naruto, was it?

It seemed the kid recognized Deidara as well and was eyeing him with distrust. When his bowl was put down in front of him he was so grateful for finally getting some food and immediately started digging in. He was quite happy to find that it was delicious. He felt Naruto's glare while he was eating until he couldn't take it anymore.

"Will you quit staring at me, yeah?" Deidara scowled.

"Not until you apologize!" Naruto yelled.

"Apologize for what? I did nothing to you, yeah."

"Apologize for what you did to Gaara!"

"Gaara? Oh the jinchuuriki guy from Suna. Look I was just doing my job, yeah. The guy crushed my arm; he has to apologize to me."

"You guys nearly killed him! A crushed arm is nothing to dying!" The two glared at each other then looked away in silent fury. Deidara continued to eat and was still wary of Naruto but the more he ate the more his mood got better until the squabble was forgotten.

"Ah, best meal in ages, yeah!" Deidara declared pushing his bowl away with a sigh when he had finished and grinned. He then felt a rather familiar chakra and turned around, sticking his head out the entrance. He saw the Hyuuga girl was watching the blonde boy.

"Why don't you come in, yeah?" This caught her off guard and it was obvious she was debating whether she should go in.

"Who should come in?" Naruto said. He poked his head out the entrance as well and smiled at the Hyuuga promptly making her turn beet red. "Yeah, come on in Hinata-chan. Have a bowl, I'll pay for you."

Hinata hesitated but came in and took a seat in the middle of the two. The owner put down a bowl in front of her with a smile and, thanking him, she started eating silently, growing redder by the second underneath Naruto's stare.

Naruto seemed to notice this and asked "You're all red Hinata-chan, are you sick or something?" Deidara eyed him with disbelief and shook his head.

'**The guy's a dunce, yeah.**' He thought. Giving the two one last glance he paid for his meal and left.

…

"Earplugs?" Kakuzu eyed the small pack in his hand.

"Yeah, I found them but there's not enough for all of us. I'm getting a pair so you three can decide who gets the other two pairs. That idiot is bound to be back soon, yeah." Deidara said with a shrug. Itachi observed the leftover pack on the table and was about to take it when it was grabbed by Kisame.

"Sorry, Itachi, but he messes with me more than with you." Kisame said with a grin. Itachi looked at Kisame then to the pack in his hands. Itachi's sharingan immediately swirled into action and sent Kisame off into a genjutsu which he probably wouldn't wake up from for a while. Itachi took the pack with a feeling of minor relief.

"Was that really necessary?" Kakuzu asked looking slightly amused. Itachi shrugged and said "I need it more than he does."

"What did you make him see?" Kakuzu asked.

"That he still had the pack and I let him have it."

"How long do you think it'll last?"

"As long as he doesn't notice the difference or Hidan doesn't do something stupid."

"You're forgetting Deidara…"

"Hn." Kakuzu took that as the end to their conversation. He was surprised he had actually got three full sentences out the Uchiha who usually kept to himself. It was rather amusing to see Kisame walking around with a spaced out look on his face.

Hidan abruptly entered the room, talking, which led to both Kakuzu and Itachi opening their packs and inserting the earplugs. Hidan was slightly confused but continued speaking to (spaced out) Kisame, not noticing the difference.

Kakuzu almost smiled. It was pure bliss not being able to hear all the crap that spouted out of the jashinist's mouth. All that he could hear was a dull hum. Itachi could say the same.

Hidan was now very confused as to why Kisame wasn't telling him to bug off or shut up. The fish man wasn't even paying attention to him.

"Hey, fish face, what's up with you?" Hidan asked only to receive no reply. Kisame didn't even look at him and continued with whatever he was doing in the kitchen. Hidan walked over and not even the slightest movement from Kisame that indicated he was even **all there**.

Hidan shook his head in doubt and waved his hand in front of Kisame's face. Kisame walked to the table, pulled a chair out and sat. He then started staring into space like the wall was interesting. Prodding the fish man and still not getting a reaction Hidan gave up.

He walked to the room to ask what was up with Kisame only to find that the two weren't even listening to him. When he tried getting their attention they only looked at him before looking back at their books. It was beyond annoying being ignored and it was even more annoying that there was nothing he could do about it. Touch Kakuzu and he gets his head cut off. Go near Itachi and he sends Hidan to some strange world where he's being attacked.

He was immortal so he wouldn't **die** from it but it does hurt like hell. Giving an exasperated sigh he was about to leave again when he heard something from one of the other rooms. Walking to the room he saw Deidara making clay models. He wasn't sure if he should go close as he didn't fancy being a target.

"Uh, are those bombs?" Hidan asked. Deidara gave him a scowl and opened a pack that was the same like Itachi's and Kakuzu's and inserted stuff into his ears. After that Hidan was ignored. He gave up.

"AGH! Whatever, I'm outta here." He declared and left once again.

The two in the lounge removed their earplugs. Deidara entered the room was a smug smirk before he started laughing.

"Did you guys see the look on his face, yeah? Priceless." Itachi and Kakuzu looked at each other and then at Deidara. They knew that he would be smiling whole day.

…

**A/N: Pointless chapter, I know. But it was fun to write. Hope you guys enjoyed as much as I did. Also my school holidays are over. T_T So I'll be updating like once a week** **but I promise that there will be longer chapters.**


	4. Ridiculous

**A/N: Right, so to those who say slow the plot, I am honestly trying but everything just comes to me soo don't get too upset but I tried to slow it down a little more. Anyway after the last pointless chapter… let's get to it.**

**Chapter 4: Ridiculous**

Tsunade had called off the meeting with all shinobi and rather planned it to take place in two days' time due to some surprising information given by Sai. During that time they were all to get ready.

Tormented at night by nightmares where the residents curse, mock, taunt and blame her for the destruction and thereafter sleep eluding her she gave up and headed to her window.

Opening it and staring out at the once delightful and full of energy village. Here it was reduced to rubble with the moonlight helping those who view the ruined village. It felt as though a piece of her broke off and was just gone. The tears slowly started falling down her face.

The fact that she there was nothing she could have done just upset her more. All the hard work put into the village was nullified in that moment.

Her beautiful village… **destroyed.** If it was a bad dream then why hadn't it stopped already? Now when she needed the comfort there was no one there for her. Her best friend wasn't in town, her pupil was most possibly asleep and there was just plain no one for her now. **No one. Alone. **Those words echoed in her head. Truth be told, she should've been the one comforting her people.

Her village. **Her **village. The village was burned and its inhabitants were broken inside. Now they were abandoning it. What next? The thought of it was scary and just blatantly saddening. After revealing a bit of her plans to Sakura, not much just a snippet, and seeing the horrified look on her student's face was enough to make her feel like she was making the wrong decision thus making her feel like crap.

**Shout, scream, let loose.**

She really wanted to.

"Danzou… I hate you. I hope you die a gruesome death."

….

Sakura couldn't sleep. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't. After nagging on her shishou's head about what she was doing Tsunade finally revealed a tiny bit of her schemes.

**Flashback**

Sakura walked down the hallway to the hokage office with Tsunade and Shizune. She was desperate to know what was going on. So desperate, she would've actually made a deal with her master. Sake for plots. But of course, where would she find sake in a destroyed village?

"Hey, Shishou, come on! Please tell me I promise I won't tell anyone else." Sakura pleaded. Tsunade gave her apprentice a glare and it worked… for a few minutes. Where did the child get her stubbornness?

After she couldn't take it anymore Tsunade then told her what she wished to hear.

"I'm only telling you this much. We will be leaving Konoha." Sakura was sure that was the worst possible news she could ever have received.

**End Flashback**

It just felt wrong to even think about deserting her beloved village let alone actually doing it. And here they **were **going to do it.

She was still in the hospital due to her home being one of those destroyed. Ino was doing the late-night shift and Sakura would do the early morning shift but she was positive sleep would elude her till then. Conceding defeat she stood up and walked down the empty, eerie halls of the hospital with her grey blanket wrapped around her.

There was a slight chill in the air coming from a window. Wrapping her blanket tighter she ignored the window and continued walking.

She heard shuffling in a nearby room and saw Ino was healing a shinobi who was awake. Ino's senses picked up and she turned her head around. Seeing Sakura standing by the door was confusing.

"Why are you awake? It'll be your turn soon you know. Go rest while you can."

Sakura shook her head and said "Sorry but I'm just… I'm just going to walk around for a while." The forlorn expression on Sakura's face was enough to make Ino want to get up and give her a hug but Sakura was already walking away.

'**Sakura is a master at making people worry.' **She thought with sadness.

Sakura walked into the reception room. There were still many patients sleeping there including Lee. The rhythmic breathing of the sleeping bodies was peaceful in a way to know that she had helped them with everything she had.

Sakura walked out the hospital. While walking down the road, observing the ruined homes she started crying. She sat down on a piece of wall and bawled her eyes out. She didn't know how long she sat there but during that moment she didn't care. After sitting a while longer she wiped her face, stood up and walked to Naruto's house.

…

Naruto woke up to a soft repeated rapping on his door. Muttering incoherent sentences and rubbing his eyes, he got up to answer the door and to his surprise stood Sakura in a blanket. Her eyes were puffy and red while her face was streaked with tears.

"Sakura-chan, what's wrong?"

"Did you know?" She asked softly and with a look that made Naruto know what she was talking about.

"Yeah… baa-chan told me not to tell you. Even Kakashi-sensei said it was important to keep quiet about it." He avoided her gaze by looking to the floor.

Sakura would've blown a gasket if it wasn't for the fact that she was exhausted, depressed and just plain not in the mood. Without saying another word she headed back to the hospital.

….

Itachi woke up earlier than usual due to him sleeping by the window and the suns first rays shining on his face. Not able to sleep afterwards he freshened up. He stood by the window studying the area outside until he heard Pein's voice from across the room.

"You should go see the hokage. She has something to discuss with you." Pein walked out the house.

Itachi was slightly confused. They were told to prepare but what were they preparing for? Pein wouldn't utter a word and they were told to wait for the meeting Tsunade called. As they say curiosity killed the cat and curiosity was killing Itachi.

Maybe now was his chance to actually **know **something. Stepping over the sleeping bodies and exiting the house, he wished that for once things would go his way without force.

….

Hinata hated being pushed around, though she was put through that most of her life, she really hated it. All she wanted was her father's approval and yet no matter how hard she worked just doing something simple like sitting with the kyuubi container was enough to fracture her effort.

And it's always got something to do with her sister.

"Why can't you be more like Hanabi?"

"You should act more like your sister."

"Work harder like your sister."

Apparently she was still banned from talking to Naruto due to him harboring the kyuubi. How they knew that she had sat with him was a mystery all in itself unless they still had people following her to make sure she doesn't do something dumb.

After trying to tell her father that Naruto had the kyuubi under control and that he wasn't dangerous she gave up. Her father was a lost case ever since he disowned her.

But now? Now she was close to the edge, about to lose it. The way the family treated her was ridiculous and just made her sad but wanting to cry and shout in anger as well. So what if she was the black sheep of the family? That was her and they should accept that!

Making her way to a training area she let out all her anger into a training post while replaying the last moment with her father.

**Flashback**

Hinata sat in her father's presence in silence. She knew what was coming but she honestly hoped that maybe her father would let her go for once. Her hopes shattered when he started speaking.

"Hinata, why were you with that kyuubi boy? I told you many times that you are banned from seeing him. He is dangerous." His stern glare made her choose her words with caution.

"But father it is safe. Naruto has the kyuubi under control and I can look after myself so you don't need to keep having people watch me." Hinata kept eye contact with her father.

"No, from now on whenever you go anywhere you will have someone accompanying you."

"Why don't you trust me? I can look after myself." Hinata looked to the floor wishing that the floor would swallow her. Then he said it.

"No, but if you were as strong as Hanabi I would've let you go and I wouldn't even have to worry about you."

Hinata raised her eyes to her father's and just stared at him. She then stood up and walked out the room but not before saying:

"Fine. I see how it is and if you won't trust me… I don't care anymore."

**End Flashback**

It seemed that the usual training wasn't enough to vent out her anger. She just fell to the floor and lay on the grass, staring at the blue sky.

"Hinata." She looked up to see her cousin.

"Want to spar?" She got up without saying a word and they started sparring. Every kick, punch, block had feeling to it and Neji felt it all. He knew from the way she left the compound something was wrong.

And here he felt it was true. She was **furious. **Never giving him a break and just letting it all out. Neji just went with it. She was only this livid a few times before and she usually calmed down after a good spar. Until then he'd just have to wait to find out what was wrong.

….

Tsunade sat at her desk staring out the window. If the council knew that she was working with the akatsuki she would be in deep crap. The clan head were not a problem as most of them went with her ideas, like Shikaku, but elders like Homura and Koharu would surely try something. Maybe they were dead? It was a slightly pleasant thought.

She didn't mind working with the akatsuki. The leader made sure things got done and wasted no time. The female did whatever she was told and voiced opinions. Tsunade didn't know much about the other members but she had a little faith in their abilities.

The door opened and Itachi walked in the room. Nodding a greeting at Tsunade and waiting for her to speak he stood in front of her desk.

"Ah, Itachi. I have a … favour to ask of you. It might be a little troublesome but I'm hoping it will work."

Itachi raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"But before I ask you that, you're going to need to know what's happening so it won't be so confusing. I have already planned everything with your leader and the meeting was shifted because of some rather interesting feedback from one of our shinobi."

Tsunade explained everything that was planned with as much detail as possible. During this Itachi asked few questions but otherwise remained silent.

"Understand now? Good then let me get to it. I need you to speak with Sasuke. I've dug up some information on the Uchiha clan massacre and… I know what truly happened." Itachi's eyes widened slightly but he said nothing.

"I'm hoping that since he doesn't listen to any of us maybe he will listen to you. I don't know if you want to but it would probably be best if you told him the truth." Tsunade said looking him dead in the eyes.

It remained like this for a few seconds before Itachi said "I will speak to him immediately."

….

Hinata sat against a tree in the cool shade wincing in pain from various bruises around her body. Neji sat against a tree next to hers in no better condition. After the sparring session she felt a whole lot better, still angry but better.

"So what happened today?" Neji asked gazing at her. Hinata was hesitating but he gave her time.

"It's my father… he doesn't trust me and he always compares me to my sister. I know I'm a lot stronger than I was but because he doesn't pay nearly as much attention to me he doesn't know this. He also refuses to let me speak to Naruto or even be near him." She looked to the floor.

Then Hinata explained what happened. Neji was not surprised as Hiashi was very strict when it came to Hinata but why would he compare Hinata to her sister? Neji knew Hanabi was a soft spot considering Hinata's past.

Neji also knew Hinata still loved her sister dearly but at the same time couldn't help wishing she were a little braver and more confident. Then there was Naruto. Everyone knew about Hinata's infatuation with the blonde, except said blonde, but no one mentioned it.

She had been caught stalking Naruto countless times by many of her friends and she often begged them not to tell anyone, mostly Naruto. Neji had actually been one of those who caught her and he had teased her relentlessly and laughed at how red she would get.

"You know he is just trying to protect you. You should give him a chance." Neji stated

"Only if he gives me a chance first. There's no reason for him not to trust me."

Hinata sighed and stood up. "Thank you Neji-nii… for listening and the spar."

"Anytime." Hinata started walking around aimlessly just thinking about everything. Maybe Neji was right and she should give her father a chance.

….

"That's a lie… It's all a lie!" Sasuke's expression was horrified.

Itachi's gaze was unwavering. He continued to speak "Everything I speak is the truth. I had chosen to die by your hands but that decision no longer stands."

Itachi gave Sasuke one last look before standing up to leave. Sasuke had a lot to think about and it would no doubt keep him mentally busy for a while. There **was** nothing else to do but mull over sudden information in a prison cell.

"Wait…" Itachi halted and faced Sasuke again. "If that is all true, why don't you get revenge on the village for making you go through that?" Itachi stared at his brother intently before saying:

"Revenge? Foolish little brother. I cared more for my village than my own family but there was one person I couldn't kill. **You**. And yet you chose the path of hatred while I was hoping you would take that **memory** to become stronger to defeat me. Imagine my surprise when I find out you were being trained by Orochimaru only to become his host when you defeated me.

"That destroys the purpose of restoring the clan name. Do you not think that I feel guilt over what I had done? I wanted **you** to bring back the pride into the Uchiha clan. It is actually ridiculous that you would run to someone who would obviously kill you when your ambitions are fulfilled. That's just playing suicidal. In short, I am very, **very,** disappointed in you, Sasuke."

Sasuke was dumbfounded at his brother's outburst and they remained in silence for a few minutes before Sasuke said "I'll join you… but on one condition."

"Name it."

"Keep Karin away from me."

….

**A/N: Okay I'm going to come straight out with it. This chapter may lack a little because I am EXHAUSTED. Mentally and physically. Stupid school put up athletic stuff and apparently it's compulsory and they've been PILING on the homework. Whatever. Anyway here is a poll for you guys.**

**Would you like the main kunoichi of the story to be: **

**Sakura**

**Ino**

**Hinata**

**Other. TELL ME. **

**Till next time… **


	5. Check Up

**A/N: Thank you guys so much for the reviews, I love em all.. Made me feel all fuzzy inside. Lol. So anyway… the tally so far for the main kunoichi is:**

**Sakura: 0 (LOL)**

**Ino: 1**

**Hinata: 3**

**You guys have until next chapter to vote.**

…

**Chapter 5: Check up**

It was a beautiful day so far. Not a cloud in the sky with just a slight breeze. It was only early afternoon and the akatsuki members were relaxing in their (small) home. Itachi was sharpening a kunai with Sasuke sitting next to him, Deidara was making a bomb, Hidan was annoying Kisame, Kakuzu was reading a newspaper, Kisame was annoying Hidan and Pein and Konan were conversing in the kitchen at the table.

"Man, this is boring. What time were we supposed to meet?" Hidan complained.

"Sunset. Until then occupy yourself or I will kick you out." Kakuzu warned, looking up from the newspaper.

"Tch. Fine, I'll go out anyway. I need to find a sacrifice."

"No civilians if there are any still roaming around." Pein said from the kitchen.

"Whatever." Hidan went to the other room to fetch his scythe.

Pein sat with a cup of coffee in hand talking to Konan who was folding a piece of red paper into one of her many origami pieces. The two would speak and then sit in a comfortable silence until one of the two spoke again.

Konan smiled to herself as her origami was completed. A red rose sat in her right hand and she carefully inserted it in her hair. Pain rolled his eyes at her actions and took a sip from his coffee. Konan ignored it.

"So are you ready?" Pein asked looking directly in her eyes.

"Yes, I am. Are you?" Konan replied holding the gaze.

"I'm always ready for anything." This time it was Konan who rolled her eyes and Pein almost smiled. She was the only one who knew everything about him and how to make him feel better. In truth he was nervous about everything. Not a lot, just slightly but it's like she knew what he was thinking and how he was feeling.

It was nice when she knew he was feeling a bit off because she would come up with a mug of coffee. Sometimes it was creepy, like when he lied about how he was feeling, she would glare at him till he told the truth.

But all that aside, they still had a few hours left.

Maybe they should-

"Maybe we should go and help Tsunade… she's probably running around like crazy to get things done in time." Konan said.

Yep, it's like she knew.

There was a knock on the door. Someone answered it and then Deidara shouted "We're supposed to head to the hospital for check-ups, yeah!"

…**..**

Shikamaru watched the sky while lying on the grass, hands behind his head. It was a boring day for him, not a cloud in the sky for him to watch contentedly. The nearby deer that inhabited the Nara forest were grazing nearby watching the lazy chuunin.

Shikamaru knew this would be the last time he would be here in a long time. Maybe he wouldn't return at all. Others would tell him not to be so negative but that's the way life was. It didn't care about what was fair or unfair or what was bad or good. Life was life and it did what it wanted to.

He realized that in the chuunin exam when team 7 was being beat up by Orochimaru's pawns. He also realized it again when he was made chuunin and not his fellow teammates or friends. Now he remembered that realization again because now he was going to leave his village. Sad but true, unfair but what could he do?

He gave a sigh at the thoughts in his head and continued staring at the cloudless sky. He would miss his mother. She was already gone along with the other villagers. His father knew it was for her safety as he knew everything that was planned as well but even Shikamaru knew his father missed his mother.

He would also miss moments like this because he highly doubted he'd ever get a chance to have free time again. Moments like this with Asuma. That guy could almost beat him in terms of laziness. Almost, but not quite.

Speak of the devil, Asuma came and sat down a bit away from him.

"Something on your mind?" Asuma lit a cigarette.

"Yeah, what we're leaving behind."

"Try not to let it bother you too much. I'm sure we'll come back eventually." Shikamaru said nothing. Then Asuma said "Let's have one last game. Take it easy on me." Shikamaru smiled. One last shogi game with his mentor. He would definitely take it easy.

….

Hinata knew that today was the last day to set things right with her father. She didn't know much about what was going to happen but she was sure that it would distance her even more from her father.

Hanabi had come and told Hinata that their father had felt a bit guilty over what he had said. Did Hinata believe that? Not really, no, but she had a reason not to. Even Hanabi told her to give their father a chance; he was just looking out for her.

But Hinata didn't need his protection! Why couldn't they see that? She was a strong and formidable kunoichi that was maybe just a little bit shy. She was 17 and they wouldn't give her freedom! But that was to be expected when you were the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, but Hinata didn't want to be the heiress.

She wasn't cut out for the job because, as they say, she was too kind. She would rather let Neji become clan head as he was more capable but there were many old tradition rules about branch and head. Hinata wanted to put a stop to all that.

As she walked toward the compound she had a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. Opening the gate and walking to her home she found her father was already standing by the doorway. She had a few hours left but she still had to get to the hospital. **Now or never.**

She walked up to her father holding his gaze. She took a deep breath.

"Father, I… I just wanted to say goodbye. And, …I'm sorry. For everything." Hinata couldn't hold the gaze anymore. She knew her father knew what she meant by '**for everything**'

But then he did something that in all Hinata's years of knowing her father she never thought he would ever do. He hugged her. And Hinata loved the feeling. She hugged him back. Her father's actions just answered all the questions she had. He really did care about her.

….

"Um, why are we doing this again."

"Tsunade-sama's orders now quit whining, Kakashi-sensei."

"…Right."

That was pretty much how it was in all medics' offices. They were ordered to check all shinobi's health to make sure they were well enough to actually do something. Needless to say, most shinobi were not happy about it as a **LOT **of them skipped monthly checkups but it was an order by the hokage who would not be happy if she found out about her shinobi skipping.

Shizune had just finished checking up Neji. She was supposed to check up the akatsuki also which had certainly decreased her mood level. She exited her office and called for the next patient that was on her list. Someone called Deidara.

Deidara stood up and followed Shizune to her office. He took a seat and waited for her to continue.

"Right, you're Deidara? Remove your shirt please."

"What, are you serious, yeah?"

"Yes, now remove it. **Now**." Shizune glared at him and Deidara decided further questioning would result in him getting hurt and took off his shirt.

"Right, lay here." Shizune patted the bed-looking thing and Deidara obliged. Shizune then started the checkup program. Her chakra checked through everything, traveling to his lungs, liver, everything. Which was perfectly fine.

"Right, you're done. You can go now."

"What? That's it?"

"Yep, that's it, now go. I have more people to check."

Deidara took his shirt and left with Shizune following close by.

"Okay, who's Hidan? Whoever you are follow me!" Shizune shouted.

Deidara started snickering at the medics luck at getting the jashinist. Kisame started laughing at the lady's luck of getting the akatsuki as patients.

Hidan sent glares to those who were laughing and followed Shizune. Getting to the office Shizune looked at Hidan and frowned as she realized who it was.

"Okay, take off your shirt." Hidan was about to argue when Shizune continued speaking "And don't question me as I already don't like you. I am a medic and I **will **hurt you in the most painful ways if you don't listen." Her eyes were narrowed and to Hidan she looked seriously scary.

Hidan listened to her and she performed the same procedure she did with Deidara. In those few moments Hidan thought she was going to kill him, yes he thought as an immortal he was going to die, but in no time it was already over. When he exited the room he breathed a sigh of relief.

….

"Okay, last one! Uchiha Itachi!" Shizune shouted. Itachi obediently stood up and followed her. She told him what she told everyone else.

"Take off your shirt please." He obliged without saying anything and Shizune wished the other patients had been more like him. Shizune began the procedure but soon gasped at the state of his lungs. It was half filled with blood clots. She looked up to him.

"How long have you been living with this?" She asked. He shrugged and she told him to stay in the room and left. She returned a few minutes later with two buckets, one filled with water and one empty, a cloth, a few pills and Sakura.

"Okay, I'm going to need you to cooperate with this." He nodded.

Sakura made a small incision on his chest and Shizune began the operation, her chakra glowing a green shade, slowly trying to fix his lungs.

Itachi's lungs had blood clots all over, blocking his airways, and there were so much. He was probably living like that for a long time for it to get so bad.

Shizune tried to loosen the blood clots a little, like untying a knot, it was a slow procedure as there were many but it was slowly working. Sakura would wipe the sweat off Itachi and Shizune's face with the cloth.

Next Shizune was going to try and raise the blood so he could cough it out.

"Okay, Itachi, you're going to have to sit up now. Sakura, take the bucket and Itachi, cough when I tell you to, okay?" Shizune said. Itachi sat up ignoring the urge to cough. Sakura took the bucket and held it in front of him.

Shizune continued the operation from his back. She slowly raised the blood till it was in a perfect position.

"Okay, cough now." Itachi didn't need to be told when he felt the vile substance in his throat. He coughed and out came all the icky goop of blood into the bucket. His coughs racked his body and he grabbed the bucket and continued coughing into it. Itachi took a breath finding he could finally breathe in deeply. Shizune gave a small smile and told him to lie back down. It was almost over; she just had to heal his lungs now and check out the rest of his body.

When she was done Shizune breathed a sigh of relief and told Itachi he should come back to her tomorrow for a final checkup. She looked to the window and was surprised to see it was almost sunset. How long had she been busy?

Itachi breathed in again, relishing the deep breaths. He smiled and looked to Shizune.

"Thank you."

….

Tsunade was tired. She hadn't slept peacefully for days now. The bags under her eyes were indications of that but she still kept on working to make sure everything was in place. She had just under 30 minutes left to make sure everything was ready. In truth she was supposed to be on her way already.

Pein and Konan had helped her with finalizing everything and she was grateful. Really, she was, and now it was time to set everything in motion. She almost smiled.

"It's time." She muttered before leaving.

…

**A/N: YAY! Another chapter :D. Lol this was more of a filler chapter and it's shorter than usual, I know, but the fun starts next chapter. I bet you all are wondering what's actually going to happen. Don't worry, you'll find out soon.**

**Anyway who liked that moment with Hinata and her dad? I know I did coz I honestly don't think he is as cruel as a lot of stories portray him to be.**

**Also, with Itachi, I don't know bugger all about medical stuffs so if it's wrong, I'm sorry, but we can't have him being killed by disease, now can we? ;)**

**R&R I love reviews. **


	6. Parting

**A/N: Right, thanks guys for voting. As of now the main kunoichi will be Hinata who won with 4 votes. Also to anyone who was wondering, yes this is a naruhina fanfic and maybe even a sasusaku if you guys want but I can promise you that the story will NOT be centered on them. I will be concentrating more on the story plot as it will get hectic. Enjoy. ;)**

…**..**

**Chapter 6: Parting **

Tsunade arrived at the meeting area a little late. All Konoha's surviving shinobi was there, waiting for her, and a lot of them were confused. Sasuke and his lackeys were there. He had somehow talked (threatened) them into helping Konoha. The akatsuki were there as well, without their cloaks obviously, patiently waiting on her. She planned to explain everything to them.

Heading to the middle of the clearing she cleared her throat, held up her hand for silence and began speaking.

"Everyone, I want to explain everything now so please listen!" Everyone's attention was suddenly on her and she continued.

"Right, I think a few of you already know that we will be abandoning Konoha… for those of you that don't; well now you know." There were alarmed mumbles in the crowd and Pein hushed them.

"Don't be worried. Most of you are wondering why Danzou has turned on us… well I'm going to explain that right now since we received information from one of our shinobi that was from root.

**Flashback**

Sai jumped off his ink bird and promptly walked towards Tsunade. His face was serious and Tsunade knew that he had bad news.

"Tsunade-sama, the information I'm about to give you may be a bit shocking but…" Sai trailed off looking towards the ground, but looked up again and continued. "Danzou is working alongside Madara. They plan on hunting down the remaining Konoha shinobi and rebuild the village so that they can be the leaders."

Tsunade had expected as much and Madara had obviously bargained with Danzou but the root shinobi were ridiculously strong so it would be very troublesome for them now.

**End Flashback**

There were more murmurs in the crowd and Tsunade gave them a few seconds to take in the information before continuing.

"I also understand some of you have seen unfamiliar faces in the crowd today… well I'm not going to say who they are but you could say they have a grudge against Madara and so will be helping us." The shinobi then looked around to see who the unfamiliar people were.

A few shuddered at all the piercings Pein had, some eyed the huge scythe on Hidan's back with fear, those who recognized Itachi were silenced by his glare, Kisame gave a toothy grin to anyone who looked his way, and men ogled Konan. Pein glared at those men and they immediately understood that the blunette was strictly off limits.

Tsunade rolled her eyes and continued speaking "Anyway… we came up with a plan that just might work. I'm going to split you all into teams. From there you will all head to different villages and try to get the towns to help us.

"This will be a **very** dangerous mission as there will be root shinobi all over and I'm certain a lot of you know just how strong they are."

A random shinobi put up his hand and Tsunade granted him permission to speak.

"Will we be returning to Konoha?"

"If it is possible then yes we will but for now deserting the village will be a good choice as maybe they won't destroy it completely. Anyone else? No? Okay then let us continue."

"Now I'm only going to explain this **ONCE** and once only. If you weren't listening, well too bad." Tsunade looked around to make sure she had everyone's attention.

"I will first call out the team number, then their members. When I call the members you will stand over here." Tsunade pointed to an empty space.

"Thereafter, when everyone's names have been called you will head over to Tenten, she will hand over your food supplies and camping equipment. She will hand each team about five scrolls depending on the size of the team and the distance they will travel. This may seem a little but four of those scrolls will each have one and a half week's supply of food while the one is camping supplies. Only those who can use summoning jutsu will be able to use these. She will also hand the medic of the squad medical supplies and if there aren't any medics on the team, basic medical items." Tsunade pointed to Tenten who had a huge sack of scrolls with her.

"Then I will state each team's leader. You just wait for further orders after that, got it?" Everyone nodded. "We leave at midnight."

"Now, each team has a sentry of sorts ranging from air sentry, bloodline characteristics or ninjutsu. There will be six main teams that will head to the furthest villages. Only four of those teams will have a medic so I'm trusting that the two teams who don't have any will be extra careful."

Tsunade then proceeded to call out the names of the teams that were normal shinobi (Canon fodder) and the teams formed before heading to Tenten for supplies.

"Right and now for the main teams. Team one will consist of: Deidara, Hyuuga Hinata, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto and Yamato." Naruto glared at Deidara but followed Tsunade's instructions anyway. The team headed to Tenten and received their supplies.

To say that Hinata was happy about her team members was an understatement and she smiled to herself.

"Team two: Rock Lee, Juugo, Karin, Pein and Konan." '**Obviously.**' were everyone's thoughts including Tsunade when she read out the last two names.

**Flashback**

"We could put Konan on this team…" Kakashi stated reading the few names on the list.

"No." Pein said bluntly.

"But she would be useful there!" Kakashi argued.

"No."

"Her dispersion would help a lot right? So why not?" Shikamaru tried to reason with him as well.

"No."

"At least give us a reason why not." the young Nara said.

"Konan stays with me. Period. End of discussion."

**End Flashback**

Tsunade rolled her eyes at the memory and continued with the team names.

"Team three: Hidan, Shizune, Kakuzu, Hyuuga Neji, and Tenten."

Hidan had grinned when he heard his name called out but when he saw his team members he couldn't keep quiet.

"WHAT THE HELL? You can't put me with those two! The old fart will probably cut my head off every fucking moment he gets!"

"He is familiar with your abilities." was Tsunade's nonchalant answer when she rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah? Well what about **her?** She'll try and kill me for sure!" Hidan said pointing towards Shizune who was glaring daggers at him.

"Ignoring the idiot… Team four: Maito Gai, Akimichi Chouji, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Aburame Shino and Hoshigaki Kisame.

"Team five: Akimichi Chouza, Yamanaka Inoichi, Nara Shikaku, Inuzuka Kiba and Suigetsu."

"The final team, team six: Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke, Hatake Kakashi, Yuhi Kurenai, Sarutobi Asuma and Sai."

The two Uchiha brothers were put on the same team as Sasuke had stated he would not help them if he was not with his 'Nii-san'.

Once all the teams were assembled Tsunade immediately stated the team leaders.

"Alright, I'm going to tell you who are team leaders now so listen closely." The six teams' attention was on her again.

"Team one's leader will be Yamato."

"Team two, Pein." '**Obviously.'** Was once again everyone's thoughts.

"Team three, Shizune." Hidan's wail was promptly heard.

"Team four, Shikamaru."

"Team five, Shikaku."

"Team six, Kakashi."

Each team nodded to their leaders and waited on Tsunade for further instructions. She called for team one and the team stepped forward.

"Okay team Yamato, you will head to Wind Country and travel to Sunagakure . Your path will be through River Country, understood? Naruto will ask the kazekage for help."

"Team Pein will head to the old akatsuki base north from here to find any sort of information that may help."

"Team Shizune will head to the other akatsuki base in Amegakure for the same reasons as team Pein."

"Team Shikamaru will head to Water Country to ask the mizukage for assistance. You will head to the Port City and take a ship form there. You must also be extremely cautious as there are bound to be root shinobi there."

"Team Shikaku will not be traveling to any countries but will rather try and investigate where Danzou and Madara are hiding."

"And finally, Team Kakashi will head to Lightning Country. Their journey will also be extremely dangerous as it is **very **far. They will try to get the Raikage to assist us."

"Now, those of you know that the akatsuki are helping us and I didn't tell those shinobi as they would've made a big fuss, they have a jutsu that we can use to report findings. They know what I'm talking about but team Shikaku does not have an akatsuki member thus they will be sending reports via bird messengers."

"We will report findings once a week. Okay, does everyone understand?" Everyone nodded. "Good, you have until midnight to say your goodbyes."

….

Hinata was looking for her teammates when she bumped into Neji. He gave her a look and he hugged her and she hugged him back since she didn't know when she'd see him again. When they pulled apart Hinata gave him a smile.

"Don't die now." Hinata said.

"You really think I will? Unlikely." Neji said with a smile.

They stood in silence for a bit before Hinata broke the silence.

"Be careful Neji-nii."

"I will, and if you come back with even a scratch Naruto will have to deal with me for not looking out for you."

Hinata giggled and shook her head. Neji could be a bit over protective sometimes.

Kiba came running with Shino following close behind and pulled Hinata into a fierce bear hug.

"Kiba-kun, I can't… breathe." Hinata tried pushing him away to no avail but couldn't help but smile.

"Oh right, sorry. I'm just gonna miss you, you know?" He grinned and pulled away and Akamaru barked. Shino nodded to Hinata.

"Yes, I'll miss you both too. We should probably go say bye to Kurenai-sensei as well."

"Yeah, we should."

Neji had long since left to say bye to his sensei and give Hinata her time with her teammates. She smiled and the trio went to find their teacher.

….

**A/N: Yeah short chapter. Sorry about that but next chapter will be better I promise. And I think this is a huge jump in the plot? I dunno but hey I think it'll be fun.**

**R&R :D I'll give you cookies. Lol. **


	7. Travels Begin

**Chapter 7: Travels Begin**

**Team 3**

Kakuzu stood at a nearby tree, arms folded, watching everyone and everything. Hidan was still sulking over his teammate selection and in all honesty it was getting on Kakuzu's nerves. Whoever came close to Hidan would receive glares, insults and threats in that order.

The medic, Shizune, was checking her supplies in her bag. Kakuzu had a small amount of admiration for her for being brave enough to stand up to the idiotic jashinist. Not many females had it in them.

Now besides Hidan and the medic lady that Hidan was afraid of there were two other young brats.

The female was the one handing out scrolls and the male was a Hyuuga from his lavender eye colour. Kakuzu was curious to know their abilities or rather how powerful they were. The Hyuuga would obviously be adept in melee combat but he wasn't so sure about the female. What were their names now again?

Ah, Neji and Tenten, and the two seemed familiar with each other. In fact they were talking as if they had been friends their whole life which was the case but Kakuzu didn't know that, now did he? Hidan was glaring particularly at them and he was even more aggravated at being ignored. Kakuzu didn't mind being alone. He liked it like that, no one to get on his nerves, but Hidan? He craved attention and if he didn't get it he would be as irritating as possible to be noticed.

That wasn't the case now though. Anyone who even looked to the priest's direction would receive a chain of insults. The miser wondered what the medic had done to Hidan to cause him to be afraid of her. He would try and get some pointers from her but until then he would have to wait till midnight observing other people.

….

**Team 2**

Karin was aghast at being separated from her 'beloved' Sasuke-kun. Instead she was put with people she couldn't give a shit about; Juugo was just a tad more important than the rest. Now trying to win a losing argument with Tsunade was obviously proving to be fruitless and Sasuke had even been avoiding her as much as possible so she couldn't even say goodbye. Even if she got close to Sasuke his creepy brother would tell her to leave.

Thus another sulking shinobi was born. Juugo had tried to uplift her spirits with a pat on the back but she immediately punched him in the face. It didn't hurt but he got the message.

Lee was close by doing pushups, his leg was healed with chakra by order of Tsunade, and so he decided training would pass the time. He had got a good look at his teammates as he had wanted to know who or what he would be working alongside for the next few weeks, maybe even months.

A pink haired woman that was in an extremely bad mood, a huge guy that liked to play with animals, an orange haired, pierced guy that glared at everyone and was the leader and a blue haired female that just ignored everyone except the orange haired guy. A strange team indeed.

But, he would definitely try to work with them even if they wouldn't work together with him. He wondered just how powerful the leader of their team was or if he wasn't why was he picked. Well he'd clearly find out because apparently the area was swarming with root shinobi and the only way to dispose of them would be silent and quick killing otherwise they might alert their buddies and cause all other shinobi to know where they were which wouldn't be good. No one could leave and no one could enter was probably the order those shinobi had recieved.

Lee stood up, finishing his 1000 pushups, and looked up. There was a full moon and clear sky. He grinned, he was excited about this 'Mission' but he was also sad to be leaving the village for a while.

He hoped everything they would be doing would work out for the best because the citizens and shinobi of Konoha definitely didn't deserve anything that was happening. He made a promise to do the best he can and he would fulfill that promise no matter what.

….

**Team 6**

Itachi leaned on a tree watching his team mess around waiting for midnight. His brother had been sitting and just observing everyone. Kakashi had conversed with him a few times but then took out his trademark book to read in moonlight.

Sasuke had not left his side since the lecture Itachi had given him. Most would say he was clingy but Itachi would say "What would you do if you and your sibling had been treating each other as enemies for years?" Itachi had also abided by Sasuke's condition of keeping a certain girl away from him.

Itachi had chased the Karin girl away quite a few times and was relieved to see she had given up on getting to Sasuke. Sasuke was just as relieved and Itachi could understand why as his little brother had explained all the weird things she would try to do to Sasuke when no one was around. It was disturbing the way her personality did a 180 when it was just herself and Sasuke.

Also Itachi had found his team fitting but there was only one problem.

That Sai boy was giving everyone weird smiles that just screamed '**fake**' and it freaked everyone out except Kakashi. The resemblance between Sasuke and Sai was odd to Itachi so he tried not to look at the pale shinobi but failed numerous times. Kurenai and Asuma were sitting under a tree and would talk about things then remain in comfortable silence for a bit.

Itachi had always found an interest in Kurenai's eyes. She did not possess the sharingan and yet it closely resembled the Uchiha Kekkei Genkai. She was also very skilled in genjutsu. Strange but yet it made sense.

Itachi disliked the idea of traveling the furthest distance to Kumogakure. It would take weeks, if not months, to get there and then they would still be tailed by root. It would be bothersome for Itachi to have to Tsukoyomi every root shinobi that popped up.

But apparently they were to do silent killing with as little noise as possible so the enemy didn't alert their fellow companions. That would be easy for him. His speed was superb; most people couldn't even keep up with their eyes.

Now all they had to do was wait…

….

**Team 1**

It was almost midnight, just another half an hour or so. Everyone was restless; no one was able to sit still for more than a few minutes. Hinata being one of those people would sit for two minutes then stand and pace around. After saying goodbye to her sensei and friends she had returned to her group and pretty much chatted and paced the time away.

She was delighted to have both Sakura and Naruto on her team and she had even found a liking to Deidara. The blonde was now checking his clay supply and was frowning at the amount he had. He would have to buy again but that would only be in Suna. Personally to Hinata his mouths on his hands were extremely creepy.

There was one question on Hinata's mind all the time: **What would Tsunade be doing?** She wasn't on any of the teams so what **would** she be doing?

She told herself not to worry about it too much, she was sure the hokage would be doing something important. The group was now talking about whether or not they'd encounter root. Hinata had checked out the area numerous times but the area would still be swarming with root shinobi so the answer would be a sad "Yes, we will definitely encounter root shinobi."

Naruto frowned at this. Those root shinobi were strong, look at Sai. They might even have to face ten or more at a time in unlucky situations. If they got hurt, they had a splendid healer on their team but the enemy shouldn't know that so of course Sakura would be fighting as well. Maybe if she could get in close she could break faces, literally.

Hinata smiled; to her they had a perfect team. They had a medic, they had a sentry which was she, they had brute strength which was both Naruto and Sakura, they had brains which was Yamato and they had a ranged damage dealer which was the blonde terrorist. Naruto couldn't go out of control because Yamato was there so they were safe.

"How long till midnight? I'm bored of waiting, yeah." Deidara said with a yawn.

"Not long, just wait a bit longer till Tsunade-sama gives us a signal." Sakura said giving him a glance.

"Man I still can't believe we're going to Suna, yeah. That kazekage guy is going to kill me. I mean he doesn't have his bijuu anymore but he'll still want to hurt me." Deidara grimaced, picturing his possible violent death.

"Well you deserve it **but** since this is an important mission I'm going to have to stop Gaara from killing you." Naruto said, scowling. He crossed his arms and huffed. This wasn't going to be a nice time with this guy. Deidara grinned, happy that he wouldn't die. It really hurt when his arm was squished but it would probably be ten times worse to have your whole body squished.

"But maybe I can let him get a few hits in just to take his anger out." Naruto said with a grin.

Deidara frowned at this. Naruto started laughing claiming it was a joke but they all knew the bomber didn't think so.

Sakura rolled her eyes and Hinata smiled. She wondered how it was going for the other teams and whether or not they were getting along. She doubted some would like the situation they were put in but obviously they were going to have to get used to it.

How long they were going to be away for was anyone's guess. It could be weeks, it could be months, they wouldn't know. Kurenai-sensei had told Kiba, herself and Shino something before they said their goodbyes.

**Flashback**

Kurenai stood with her arms folded and her face was serious. It was rare that she was like this and Hinata wondered what their sensei had to say.

"Okay… I hope you guys are ready for this travel. I'm going to get straight to the point. Consider this travel a mission. It's not about who the best is or what you've done but rather on your **survival **and the success of the mission. We need you guys to complete the mission and be **alive**." Kurenai looked to the floor.

The three exchanged glances. They understood what Kurenai was getting at but why was she telling them this? They obviously weren't planning on dying.

"You don't know what I mean now…" She looked up at the three. "But you will soon."

**End Flashback**

Hinata wondered what their sensei meant by "**But you will soon." **That was slightly confusing and made her worry a little. Would one of her team mates be injured or something?

"Heeeey, Hinata-chan!" Hinata snapped back to reality to find Naruto waving a hand in her face.

"Oh cool, you're back. Come on, Tsunade-sama is about to give the signal." Naruto grinned at her.

Hinata stood up flushing a little and true to Naruto's word Tsunade was standing in the middle of the clearing.

All six main teams were standing at their designated areas waiting on her command. She slowly lifted her hand and all Konoha shinobi readied them for the signal. When her hand changed into the symbol all the Konoha shinobi were gone.

….

**Team 4**

Shikamaru had a bittersweet opinion on having Gai on his team. For the sweet part, he was pretty damn strong but for the bitter part, he was annoying, just as much as Lee or even worse. He would ramble on and on about youth and high spirits and whatever.

Even the akatsuki fish-guy was getting slightly annoyed.

"Hey, could you keep quiet? I'm pretty sure we're getting close to root so shut up." Kisame said. The group stopped their tree jumping.

Gai was about to launch into a lecture about how one must respect the opinions and wishes of teammates but was interrupted by Shikamaru signaling him to keep quiet. Standing in a tree a few meters away as a root shinobi, alone, but it appeared he hadn't seen them.

Shikamaru was not in the mood for battle so, obviously, they were going to avoid it. He signaled for his team to follow him. Once they were away from the shinobi Shikamaru gave a sigh of relief and had Shino check the area.

Kisame was not happy on his current leader's choice.

"We could've just killed him you know. Samehada has not had a decent meal in a while."

Shikamaru waved it off stating it would be too noisy. This was a stealth mission; any fighting necessary would be assassination and this was a rare time when the young Nara was actually serious about a mission. Shino then said that there were no root shinobi nearby but rather grouped together a few kilometers away.

"Right, let's go. Keep your guard up. We need to be at least a few kilometers away from the port city by the latest tomorrow night, understood?"

The team nodded and they started jumping from tree to tree again.

….

**Team 5**

Nara Shikaku loved the mission his team was assigned. It was what they were good at or rather what he and his friends were good at. Now the plan he had formulated was to capture a root shinobi alive and have Inoichi work his magic on the captive. There was a chance that maybe Danzou had told them just a bit of his plans. But that bit was a lot for them so it was a chance they couldn't miss out on.

They had a cocky guy that could liquefy his body that was slightly annoying as well. Now they had a valuable asset: The Inuzuka boy with his amazing nose. If Kiba could even get a whiff of a root shinobi they would hurry and be as cautious as possible in capturing the shinobi. Then their plan would be set in motion.

Take captive to secluded area, talk to captive, if captive does not answer questions allow Inoichi to read his mind, if information is found send immediately a messenger bird to Tsunade. At least that is how Shikaku was hoping his plan would go.

Now there was a chance that the shinobi would not be alone thus meaning they would have to wait on the perfect opportunity to strike. If their calculations were even a bit off the root shinobi would alert their companions and the plan would be for nothing.

"I've got something." Kiba said sniffing some more. "There are two scents. One leads that way but there are three people." Kiba pointed in the left direction. "The other leads this way, the way we were going. There are two people." Kiba pointed straight into the direction they had been travelling before.

Shikaku considered his options for a moment before asking "Are they close to each other or scattered?"

Kiba sniffed a bit more before replying, "I'm not sure but I think they are slightly apart in the left direction. Not too sure about straight ahead."

"Then left it is."

….

**A/N: Am I late? Sorry if I am. I had a bit of writers block in the first paragraph. Anyway thank you guys for the favourites and follows. It warms my heart to know people actually like my story and rubbish writing :) **

**Also you guys can leave suggestions, criticism and stuffs. I'm game for anything except flames. Thanks again.**


	8. Stealth

**Chapter 8: Stealth**

**Team 6**

Itachi shook his kunai free of blood. The root shinobi slumped to the ground. That was the sixth one that night and Itachi had a feeling that it was only the tip of the iceberg.

Whenever they encountered any root shinobi that was blocking their path it was Kakashi and Itachi's job to dispose of them quickly and quietly before they could alert anyone. So far all their killings had not brought on any problems as they had hidden the bodies in bushes. If root saw dead bodies they would know Konoha was trying something but they were bound to notice missing shinobi soon so it was best for them to be as far away as possible.

The team continued running. Their pathway to Kumo was ridiculously far, going from Yu through Shimo until finally, Kumo*. Their team had gotten the most scrolls of supplies from eight food scrolls and two camping scrolls. Then they still received another scroll with gear to travel through Shimo. It was Kurenai's job to look after the scrolls. If she lost them they were doomed.

The Sai boy was actually very useful with his abilities, freaky but useful. He had sent rats to check around the area for any groups of root shinobi and so they had been avoiding any unwanted gang situations. Sai also apparently had a dislike for Sasuke after he 'mind fucked' Sai with his sharingan as Sai had so bluntly put.

They had been running for more than half an hour when they heard voices. They group turned around to find a group of root shinobi behind them. They all had the fake smiles Sai wore. The root group immediately surrounded them.

"That is as far as you go, scum."

….

**Team 3**

Shizune's team had been travelling so far without problems. It seemed that the root shinobi had been concentrating more on forming groups in the directions to the great countries. This made her mission easier but she couldn't help but worry about the other shinobi. Then, of course, there was a negative about no enemies. Hidan wouldn't stop complaining about how he needed a sacrifice and how Jashin was going to punish him.

When Neji had reported a few root shinobi nearby, Hidan had begun grinning from ear to ear. Kakuzu had just rolled his eyes. He wouldn't have minded but Hidan's sacrifice rituals took forever to finish. They didn't have time to waste so Kakuzu just said no. Hidan was going to argue but Shizune shut him up with a glare. Now was not the time for his childish antics.

They didn't have to travel too far, Ame was directly west of Konoha, and they would be at their destination by nightfall the next day if they didn't have any hassles. But luck obviously didn't approve of that thus sending a group of root shinobi was appropriate for the situation and it seemed the group was not about to let them leave without a fight.

There were five shinobi and their team was also five so it was an even matching.

"Yeah! That one is mine." Hidan said pointing to a male in front which was apparently the leader. The said leader smirked at being given an idiot to fight.

"I hope you will be enough to please Jashin-sama or else I'm gonna get my ass handed to me."

….

**Team 2**

A root shinobi appeared in front of Pein and his team.

"You will go no further." He had a weird smile on his face. Pein was in a bad mood already from Lee and Karin's arguments and no stupid shinobi who was dumb enough to take on five at once was going to agitate him even further. So he simply stabbed the shinobi with a metal rod from his sleeve and the group continued on their path. If Danzou was stupid enough to underestimate them then it was his funeral.

Konan gave Pein a glance and saw the light scowl on his face. Pein had heard amazing things about Lee and he had expected something like Itachi. But as they say expect the unexpected. The actual Lee had a green spandex and a bowl haircut and Pein had yet to see his superb taijutsu skills and speed. Karin and Lee were still arguing over nonsense.

"I could cover their mouths…" Konan offered. Pein mulled over it for a moment before shaking his head. If Karin had something to say they wouldn't know. The only person besides Konan that wasn't affecting Pein's sanity was Juugo who had kept mostly to himself, only speaking when he was trying to calm Karin down.

They were going through Oto to get to the akatsuki base. It would take about two days but with the current events maybe more.

If this was how they were going to travel couldn't they at least have gaps of silence in between? There was no way Pein was going to tolerate that and he was getting closer to the edge with every passing second. They were worse than Hidan and Deidara arguing! Juugo was now trying to stop the two as he noticed the now angry leader but it was all in vain. If anything they just got louder. Pein couldn't take it anymore.

"**SILENCE!**"

The trio behind looked at him with a mixture of surprise and fear. Pein's icy glare went from one to the other.

"If you want to end up like the shinobi from earlier, carry on. I really won't mind doing the same to you."

That got them quiet but it didn't stop them from pulling faces and glaring at each other. Pein sighed; it was going to be a long two days.

….

**Team 6**

They were now facing ten or more root shinobi. How they were going to fight that many elite was what was on Kakashi's mind. It was too early in the plan for battle and too early for injuries. Looking got his left he saw Sasuke and Itachi were looking as devoid in emotion as ever. To his right Asuma and Kurenai were in battle stances while Sai had a scroll out.

There was absolutely no way they were going to fight that many. They were surrounded so there was no escape but they had to somehow. Plans passed through his mind like lightning but each one was tossed aside.

Itachi noticed Kakashi's distress and eyed the root shinobi. They were far below his level; he could see that much, why they couldn't just fight was beyond him. Kakashi looked around once more but still couldn't find anything to help them. He sighed and took a battle stance. There really was no avoiding the fight.

The team all readied themselves. Asuma took out his two chakra blades, pouring chakra into it, and ran towards a target. Kurenai also charged towards an enemy attacking using taijutsu.

Itachi chose his first victim looking directly in to his eyes and he looked right back. Itachi almost smiled, they were making this easy for him. Sasuke did the same but his victim was a little smarter by not looking into his eyes. He charged his target instead, drawing his Kusanagi.

His target also drew a blade and the two collided in a sound of clashing metal.

….

**Team 5**

Shikaku and his group ran with Kiba leading in the front, guiding the team to root. They had gone over the plan of how to capture the shinobi enough times. They could not have a failure.

Kiba abruptly stopped along with the rest of the group. They were now looking at a root shinobi who was talking to her teammate. The teammate ran off leaving her alone. Shikaku smiled, it was time to catch them an enemy.

Suigetsu grinned; it was his time for some action. Immediately liquefying his body he got close to the root shinobi. Swiftly returning to his human form he held his hand over the targets mouth as well as holding a kunai to her throat. The victim squirmed a little but stopped once Suigetsu threatened her.

He looked towards Shikaku and the Nara nodded thus allowing Suigetsu to knock the female out. Now the wheels were in motion.

….

**Team 1**

Hinata had had her byakugan on for as long as they were running and it was starting to put a little pressure on her eyes. She ignored the feeling and carried on looking out for enemies. They had only encountered a few but those were soon killed and pretty much mutilated by Sakura and Deidara.

If they travelled at their pace they would be in River Country by dawn but then they were going to take a short rest to regain their strength. Naruto could run on and on but the normal people on his team were not so fortunate.

Deidara had offered to just fly on his clay birds to Suna and the team had thought about it before accepting his proposal. They would get there faster as well as avoid any unwanted situations with root but they would have to take care to not be noticed while they were flying.

Deidara took some clay out his pouch and let the mouths his hands do the rest. Pretty soon it was fashioned into three miniature versions of his bird. Tossing them to the floor he made a hand sign and there was a puff of smoke leaving three huge clay birds. He grinned and jumped on one of them.

"Leader can have his own one, yeah. You come with me." Deidara pointed to Sakura and she obliged, a little surprised how sturdy the bird was. Hinata headed to the leftover bird as well as Naruto. He jumped on first before offering his hand to Hinata who accepted.

The birds took off leaving clouds of dust in their wake.

….

**Team 3**

Hidan tsked and kicked the dead body of the root shinobi.

"Seriously, my fucking grandma could've done better than you. You just wasted my fucking time." Kicking at the body once more he regrouped with the other team members. Kakuzu could actually agree with Hidan but he couldn't complain when was in a slightly better mood after obtaining another heart. The area was now lying with five dead shinobi all with different types of damage.

First body had numerous senbon around his body. Second body had various bruises. Third body had different weapons stuck all over ranging from kunai to shuriken to daggers. Fourth body had a huge hole in the chest area. Fifth body had one slice but was bleeding in many places.

Shizune checked if anyone had any injuries, which was only Tenten with a bruised arm and a cut in her face. Once she was sorted the group started to run again. Hidan was complaining now how they didn't give him time to sacrifice his victim. Shizune gave him a warning look and he shrugged.

"Just saying." Hidan learned not to mess with Shizune as her bark was definitely weaker than her bite, meaning she actually did worse than what she said.

"Can't you stop speaking? You're so annoying!" Tenten said with a frown. Hidan gave her the finger. Tenten was about to attack him when Neji held her back and told her something that made her laugh. Now every time she looked at Hidan she would just start giggling much to the jashinist's annoyance.

….

**Team 4**

Ino shuddered at the state the root shinobi's body was in after a fight with Kisame. You couldn't even tell it was a body anymore through the shredded pieces of skin except if you squinted hard enough. She pitied the poor shinobi for choosing the wrong person to battle.

The shark man was grinning wildly but showed no signs of even being in a battle. Obviously the dead shinobi was just barely warm up.

Shikamaru looked to Shino who he concentrating a little on the surroundings. He then gave the group a direction with few shinobi.

Shikamaru gave the body a glance before signaling for the team to move out. He was pretty sure the poor shinobi's screams could be heard for miles so it was best for them to be gone if reinforcements came. Ino looked to Kisame who still had a happy face.

"Was that really necessary?" Ino asked.

"Gotta have fun once in a while you know. Plus this isn't half bad compared to what I did to some other guy."

"That is **fun**?" She asked a little shocked but then remembered this was a crazy S classed shinobi she was talking to. She suddenly felt a little nervous to be around the fish man and he noticed it.

"Aw come on. I wouldn't kill ya anyway. Leader's orders." Though saying that with a grin on his face didn't help her feel any better.

"Y-Yeah… I guess so."

Shikamaru smirked at the strange conversation. The fish man was certainly entertaining to have on a team. Chouji was a little apprehensive about the fish man but accepted him into the team nonetheless. He was a bizarre one but his witty personality was something they'd have to get used to.

….

**A/N: Wow his chapter sucks so much to me. I'm so sorry about this chapter. Also the * by Kumo: If you guys want to see a map here's a link: www. Leafninja country. php. Without the spaces of course. **

**Anyway I've been watching some more Naruto and I've literally been squealing through every episode. Though I'm still very far behind. I wish I had internet to download more.**

**Also a random question for you guys:**

**Any character you really, really hate in Naruto? I hate Sasuke (douchebag) and Sakura after she lied to Naruto. **


	9. Discovery

**Chapter 9: Discovery**

**Team 5**

The team had been running for a while now as fast as they could with Suigetsu carrying the root kunoichi over his shoulder. She was still out cold from the blow he had given her. He hoped they were getting close to a cave or something because, for a female, she weighed a lot and his shoulder was paying the price.

"You do know where we are going right? I mean we aren't going to keep running till we see a spot?" Suigetsu asked.

"Of course not, I planned everything out already. There is a cave close by so stop complaining." Shikaku replied.

Suigetsu gave a sigh of relief at hearing the good news, well for him it was, and switched the body to the other shoulder. True to Shikaku's word there was a nearby cave, small, but a cave was a cave. They entered and Suigetsu dropped the body with another sigh and began massaging his shoulder. Mumbles of 'what does this lady eat' and 'my poor shoulder' was heard by the group and Kiba chuckled.

The group took a good look at the kunoichi. She wore the stomach-revealing root uniform with her black, just below shoulder hair in a high ponytail. There was a bruise on her neck from Suigetsu's handiwork.

"Now, tie her up with something. Do we have rope in that supplies scroll?" Chouza asked.

Inoichi looked through his bag for a supplies scroll that was only given to their team to help them. A few seconds later he held it up and opened it, laying it down on the floor. He made way for Shikaku to summon a few items.

**Kutchiyose no jutsu**

Now on top of the scroll were much supplies but only what was needed was taken which was some rope and chakra suppressing bracelets. He cut the rope intotwo pieces and tied the kunoichi's feet and hands before putting on the bracelets.

"Right, now all we have to do is wait for her to wake up. If she refuses to answer our questions, which is probably what will happen, Inoichi can do his work. During this time no one must disturb him, understand?" Shikaku said, mainly to Kiba and Suigetsu. The two looked at each other and nodded.

….

**Team 6**

Sasuke and the shinobi pushed at each other with their swords, willing the other to surrender. Giving one last push they jumped apart and watched each other's moves, circling each other. The shinobi was the first to make an action and used a jutsu, making the necessary hand seals.

**Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu**

Sasuke jumped out the way and, shielding his face from the intense heat, took the chance while his opponent was not looking and ran to the back. The extreme light and heat from the fireball died down leaving smoldering residue. The shinobi checked whether Sasuke had survived in the remains of what the fireball left over. He felt a surge of chakra and heard a loud screeching behind him. Looking to the back he saw his opponent standing without a scratch, and worse, with crackling electricity in his right hand. Sasuke smirked and charged his opponent.

**Chidori**

Sasuke's fist went right through the shinobi's chest. Removing his hand and jumping away, he left a gaping hole in the root's chest that was pouring blood. The shinobi fell to the floor with a thud and Sasuke returned to the where the group was.

Looking to his brother, his one opponent had his throat slit while the other was screaming in agony. Sasuke figured he was probably being attacked by crows or something and from what his brother had told him, Itachi must have felt amazing not to have any hindrances anymore. When he was sick he was just a shell of his former self and it had to be refreshing to be able to fight without problems.

Looking the other way Kakashi had turned victorious against two opponents. Kurenai was finishing off her opponents with a genjutsu. Asuma was delivering a finishing blow to his opponent's head. The other remaining shinobi had retreated clearly seeing they couldn't even hope to defeat the team. Kakashi was about to pursue them but was stopped by Itachi, saying that there was probably more waiting and it was best to leave it. The team regrouped and no one had bad injuries aside from bruises and a few cuts here and there. They continued moving through the forest.

….

**Team 5**

Kiba paced around the cave for what must have been the twentieth time, who knew waiting for someone to wake up would be so boring and how hard had Suigetsu hit her? It must've been pretty hard for her to be out cold all this time. He gave a long sigh. He didn't know how old people could be so relaxed all the time when he watched the three superiors. They were just sitting on the floor with their backs against the wall, eyes closed. Suigetsu could probably say the same about them from the frown etched on his face.

Suigetsu's frown deepened and he walked over to the female. He sat cross-legged in front of her and just watched her till he grew bored of that as well.

"Come on! Wake up already!" He reached out and slapped her face lightly a few times and to his surprise he actually got a reaction of a moan. She soon opened her eyes and Suigetsu grinned. Finally!

"Oi, she's awake!"

The three older men and Kiba walked to them. Her brown eyes were looking around in slight confusion.

"Look, we are not going to hurt you. We just need you to answer some questions about Danzou without any hassles." Chouza said.

She looked up at them and smiled.

"I do not wish to give away the secrets of my master…-" She said but was cut off by Shikaku.

"Inoichi, I think you can start now." He turned around and started walking to the wall.

"-is probably what you were expecting me to say." The kunoichi continued and Shikaku stopped immediately to look at her with the rest of the group in surprise.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop right there. What do you mean by **that**?" Kiba asked, his face clearly showing confusion.

"What I mean is I would actually tell you people stuff, if I even knew anything. I have been waiting for people to kick Danzou's ass for ages. He made me kill my best friend! What sick person does that?" She said. Shikaku and Inoichi exchanged glances. "What, you actually think we like killing each other? Not cool man."

"So, you want to go against your master because of how he trains his shinobi? Then why were you under his wing in the first place?" Inoichi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"My whole family had been trained by him and they just put me there too."

"But you do know Danzou will send people to kill you once he finds out that you're doing this, right?" Kiba said, crossing his arms.

"Well yeah, I guess but if you guys could avoid him, why can't I?"

"That is simple. You're known by all of root." Shikaku stated.

"But I want to help you guys!"

"What use would you be if you were kidnapped that easily?"

"Tch, you really think I would go down that easily? I was in consideration to be one of Danzou's elites. I **wanted **to be kidnapped so I could tell you this! Oh and thanks for the bruise by the way."

"What!?" Suigetsu shouted.

"Er, you said you'd tell us things right? Well what kind of things?" Kiba asked.

"Well anything that I know. But anything regarding this whole issue has been vague. It's all just 'kill the Konoha shinobi'. It's like they don't want us to know anything."

"So simply put, you would help us with what we're doing? Leave your master just like that?" Chouza asked.

"Yes, of course."

"I don't trust her. Inoichi check her out." Shikaku said.

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing." Inoichi said.

Inoichi stepped forward and put his hand on her head. Soon the kunoichi fell into a dreamlike state and Inoichi began.

….

"There's nothing regarding us, nothing at all." Inoichi said, shaking his head and removing his hand.

"What do you mean nothing? There has to be something!" Shikaku said.

"Yes, something preventing me from seeing further into her mind. All I could get was her name and her family. Everything else regarding root is protected by a jutsu."

"Oh that. You see Danzou had us all put seals into our minds to prevent us giving out information about root when people did what you did. If we were captured it came in handy as you can see." The kunoichi said.

"Right… then what was her name?" Shikaku asked in defeat.

"Mezura, no last name, or at least she doesn't remember it." Inoichi replied

"Okay **Mezura**, it's time for a little talk."

….

**Team 1**

"This is putting a real strain on my chakra… We should probably land soon to prevent a crash landing, yeah." Deidara said with a frown.

"You offered but I guess we could cross the desert in the morning. Try and find us a cave or something." Sakura said.

"Well you could look too; tell the others as well, yeah."

Sakura shouted the current events to her teammates flying nearby. They had covered great distance already and were in the desert. All they had to do now was cross it. They were already pretty far so it was safe to take a break.

"Hey, you think you can find a cave with byakugan?" Naruto asked Hinata.

"I-I suppose so. There are probably not many caves in a desert i-if any at all."

"Try at least, please."

"Y-yes, of course." She had rested her eyes enough to use byakugan again during the time they were flying and the pressure she had felt earlier had disappeared a while ago.

**Byakugan**

While she looked around Naruto smiled. It was really handy to have a Hyuuga on the team and that proved it.

….

**Team 3**

"Ack, quit it!"

"Not until you say sorry!"

"Argh! This is why I don't like women!"

"Say that again, I dare you!"

"Hidan, Tenten, keep quiet!" Neji said trying to get them to fall silent. Tenten was now bombarding Hidan with kunai which he tried to dodge but failed.

"Ouch! Fucking bitch, quit it!"

"Now apologize!"

"Tenten, Shizune is getting angry. I really think you should stop…" Neji tried once again.

Kakuzu rubbed his temples. They had been at it while now, making the pounding headache even worse as well as the urge to kill something. He wished he had brought along those earplugs. If only he'd known he'd have Hidan on a team with him.

Shizune had been trying to ignore them for a while now but after having to dodge numerous kunai and shuriken it was getting a bit much for a simple squabble. Sooner or later Hidan was going to want to use Tenten as a sacrifice.

"Maybe we should take a quick break. You two sit separately for all of our sanity, please." Shizune said and the team stopped moving.

Hidan and Tenten glared at each other but separated, Tenten sat with Neji and Hidan sat alone. Tenten looked away and pouted at a bemused Neji.

"Anyway… how will we know when we're in Ame?" Neji asked looking away.

"It rains. A lot. That's your first clue." Kakuzu replied.

"Oh, and you're going to lead us to the hideout?"

"Yes. I haven't been there many times but I'm pretty sure I know how to get there."

"Your leader… what is he like? He seems pretty intimidating."

"He keeps mostly to himself. He is very level headed but gets angry when people ignore him or annoy him."

"He must get angry a lot when this guy is around." Neji said looking at Hidan.

"Oh you have no idea. Whenever Leader is around we have to stitch his lips or Leader is bound to blow a gasket from the crap this idiot spouts."

Neji smiled, the miser was actually nice to have around when you looked past his creepy appearance.

"Shut it Frankenstein. Since when are you so fucking talkative?"

"Hidan you have been irritating me for a while now and if you don't shut up I will stitch your lips shut, cut your head off and dump you somewhere where no one will find you."

Hidan was silent after that but the scowl that was evident on his face showed just how much he hated being forced to listen to Kakuzu.

…

**Team 5**

"Okay so you're going to help us kill Danzou now but how do we know we can trust you?" Kiba asked.

"Simple, when we're confronted or something I'll fight alongside you guys." Mezura said with a shrug.

"That can work both ways you know… like you make us believe you'll fight with us but then you end up helping the enemy."

"Why would I do that? I mean I just spilled what I knew and they'd probably kill me if they found out what I did."

"I guess that is true. This is really frustrating." Kiba said holding his chin while thinking.

Shikaku sighed and looked towards his friends. They nodded and he untied the kunoichi's hands and feet. She immediately began massaging her wrists.

"Finally, you didn't have to tie it so tight you know."

Shikaku ignored that comment. The information that they received now was valuable and the girl was indeed helping them on their quest. She was a strange one; many root shinobi did not have a personality like that, if they had one at all and something just wasn't right.

The reason she hated Danzou was that he had sent her family together on a mission when Konoha was not on good terms with Iwa. They had not returned and so Mezura was left to fend for herself in root.

The information she had given was that Danzou had been saying something about meeting someone in Konoha as it would be a perfect meeting place since it was deserted. The meeting was in a week's time which gave them enough time to get reinforcements.

Shikaku gave the female a glance. He wondered whether allowing her to help them was a good idea.

….

**A/N: My own OC! Don't worry she won't stay that long but she is important. You guys can leave any complaints and whatnots. I love hearing your thoughts. Also the scene with Sasuke was my first ever fighting scene and I need to know whether it was good so that I can work on those a little more.**

**And to Ninja Kat (guest), a big thank you for the review. :) ** Till next time.


	10. The Kazekage

**Chapter 10: The Kazekage**

**Team 1**

Hinata had sighted a cave that was further west. There they were going to rest in turns with one person staying up to keep watch. The cave was in the desert and so the team landed. It had a lot of sand, much to Deidara's annoyance and as luck would have it, they were in the middle of a sandstorm so they couldn't leave even if they wanted to.

"This is why I hate this place. Sand, sand and more sand, yeah. You have to wash your hair like four times to get it all out. There's even sand in my damn ears and we just got here." Deidara scowled; there was already sand falling off his head. Hinata giggled even though it was the same for her.

"We'll have to stay here until the storm dies. Who wants to stay up first while the others rest?" Yamato asked.

"I'll go first!" Naruto said.

"I-I'll be second." Hinata said.

"Then Deidara can take the last shift. Okay everyone we'll eat first then we can rest." Yamato stated, taking out a scroll from his bag.

…

Hinata looked towards Deidara while they were eating. He looked strange without his akatsuki cloak but she would never tell him that to his face. After all, would you tell someone something they would take as an insult especially if they could bomb you up?

"Stop staring yeah, it's freaking me out." Deidara said, glancing at her.

"S-Sorry!" Hinata apologized growing a bit red.

"Well I guess it is okay, yeah. I mean it's not every day you get to see someone as good looking as me."

Sakura and Naruto spluttered before looking at each other and bursting into laughter.

"What? Did I say something wrong, yeah?"

….

Hinata awoke to someone shaking her lightly by the shoulders.

"Hinata-chan, it's your turn now."

Hinata opened her eyes to see two big blue orbs staring at her. She immediately jumped up in surprise and Naruto started laughing at her.

"N-Naruto-kun, please don't d-do that." Hinata said once her heartbeat returned to normal.

"Eh, it's always fun to see people's reactions when I do that. You should've seen when I did that to Sakura-chan, though she beat me up pretty bad afterwards…" He said with a grin and then a shudder when he remembered the violent memory.

Hinata smiled, the same old Naruto.

"I think I'll go sleep now. I'm dead tired. This journey sure takes it out of you." Naruto said before yawning and getting into his sleeping bag. He fell asleep almost immediately.

Hinata smiled again and walked to the entrance of the cave. The sandstorm had left a lot more sand inside than when they first got there. The first thing she wanted when they got to Suna was a nice long shower to get rid of all the grit.

Hinata peeked out the entrance and saw the sun was just beginning to rise. The first streaks of light in the sky were just starting to brighten up the land, the beautiful colours of red, pink, orange and yellow combining to form the multicoloured sunrise. The group would probably be leaving late morning to let everyone have their fair share of rest. It would be a long, hot and tiring journey through the desert and they needed all the sleep they could get.

Returning to where the others were sleeping, she sat down. Her eyes couldn't help but trail towards a certain blonde and she sighed. She really did wish she had more confidence.

"You could just tell him you know, yeah." Hinata gasped and looked behind her to see Deidara sitting up in his sleeping bag and rubbing his eyes.

"T-tell who w-what? And why are you awake?" Hinata stuttered. She could feel a blush creeping on her cheeks. Deidara rolled his eyes.

"Don't play dumb, yeah. I've seen how you look at him and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's happening. Also I don't know why but I just had the feeling telling me to wake up." Deidara said with frown. Hinata looked down to her feet.

"But it's not that simple."

"Sure it is, yeah. You just tell him."

"If he doesn't feel the same way it could damage our friendship. Plus I think he likes Sakura."

"What, her? That may be a one sided thing since she clearly doesn't feel that way about the dunce, yeah. I saw how she was watching that Uchiha."

"Even so…"

"Look, if he doesn't like you just move on, yeah. I'm sure you have loads of guys going after you."

Hinata wasn't too sure about that since having Neji around was enough to keep away anyone trying anything. She thought about it for a while but came to the conclusion that giving up on Naruto was impossible. She had been watching the blonde for as long as she could remember, what was the point of giving up now?

"Thank you, Deidara-kun, but I don't think that's likely."

"Eh, if you say so but you really should give it a try, yeah." The terrorist replied with a shrug and snuggled back into his sleeping bag.

…

**Team 5**

"So are we there yet?" Mezura asked.

"I don't even know where we are going. Don't ask me ask him." Suigetsu said, pointing to Shikaku.

"But you're closer?"

"Kami, you're irritating. Go bug Kiba."

"That's mean! And I wouldn't bug that guy anyway, not with that huge dog he has."

Suigetsu face-palmed. This had been going on since they left the cave. Apparently the three elders were too scary for her to mess with and Akamaru was even scarier so her choice was poor Suigetsu.

Mezura was now grinning and walking with her arms behind her head, making weird hand signs. That was a little strange, even for her.

"Why are you doing that?"

"Why can't I?"

Suigetsu's eyebrow twitched and he was tempted to throttle the female. Kiba laughed at them, thankful that he had Akamaru to keep the monstrosity away.

…

Somewhere out there

"**The bait has been taken. Let's go."**

….

**Team 1**

"Kami, it's hot, yeah. Another reason why I hate this place. How long will it take for us to get there?" Deidara scowled at the sun and pulled his cloak tighter. They all had cloaks packed specially for them to cross the desert in.

"Well you took us pretty far so I guess we should be there by nightfall." Sakura said, glancing at the bomber.

"We better be and seriously, Naruto, you have to protect me, yeah…"

"Yeah, yeah stop worrying so much, besides Gaara might not attack you **immediately**." Naruto said with a grin.

"Nope but his sister will." Sakura interrupted.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about Temari. If she gets you there's nothing I can do about that…" Naruto said thoughtfully.

"What?!"

"Kankuro is a laidback guy but he might still try to poison you in your sleep and Temari will probably attack you head on and tear you to pieces as soon as she sees you."

"I'm doomed…" Deidara looked crestfallen and Naruto couldn't help but laugh.

"Relax! Sakura-chan can talk to Temari before she sees you!"

"As if that will help, yeah."

"Oh it helps plenty! They're friends!"

"What about Kankuro?"

"Oh a little bashing will set his mind straight." Sakura said holding up her fist.

Hinata and Yamato watched the bizarre conversation, finding it hilarious. In fact Yamato was actually laughing along with Hinata. Deidara didn't find it very funny considering his life was on the line so when he looked to the two they immediately stopped laughing from the deadly aura he was giving off. Only his face was pulled in an angry way that looked hilarious to them and they continued to laugh.

"S-sorry, Deidara-kun, but… your face…!" Hinata spluttered, holding her stomach.

"What, what's wrong with my face, yeah?" Deidara asked feeling around his face. By this time Hinata was done laughing but still had a huge smile on her face.

"Oh nothing is wrong with it." The Hyuuga heiress replied though Deidara didn't look convinced.

"Right, so anyway let's move a little faster." Yamato said after he too recovered. The group then continued their trek through the desert in silence.

….

**Later that day…**

**Suna- Kazekage Room**

Gaara was content with his life. He had the respect of his townsfolk and children looked up to him. He also had two siblings who loved him but were still annoying at times, mostly Kankuro. At the moment his desk had a stack of papers that needed his approval but before he could do those there was always someone who would interrupt him. Either a ninja asked for something or his siblings came to complain about each other.

For example, Kankuro had come into his office about an hour ago claiming Temari had stolen one of his puppets. Thereafter Temari had beaten him up for even thinking of accusing her and why didn't he accuse the maids who always cleaned his room. Sometimes Gaara would think he was the oldest of the three of them.

There was a knock on the door and Gaara knew it wasn't his siblings since they simply just walked into the room. A shinobi that he knew worked at the gates walked into the room.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Gaara-sama, there are five Konoha shinobi outside the east gate claiming that they need to see you immediately."

Gaara was surprised at this. He wasn't expecting any Konoha shinobi to come and see him.

"Okay, is there anything else they said?"

"Y-yeah, the Konoha shinobi said you knew him. He said his name was Naruto."

"Send them in immediately."

…

"Right, so Deidara-san you're going to wait outside until we say it's safe for you to come in. We're going to speak to Gaara-san a little before you can come in for your safety." Yamato said to the bomber.

"Okay… I hope it works, yeah."

"It should and you should also keep your hood on so his siblings and shinobi don't recognize you."

"Good luck and try not to look at anybody!" Naruto said with a grin.

Deidara scowled at the blonde. How could he be so happy in such a dire situation? Well for him it was but the only one who actually looked sorry for him was the Hyuuga heiress.

….

Naruto and the other three members of his team walked into the office. Gaara was sitting at his desk with his arms on the table, fingers laced together.

"Hey Gaara! Long time no see!"

"Yes, but I received no word of you coming here. Did something happen?"

Naruto frowned at his friend's blunt personality but looked to Yamato for an explanation anyway.

"Okay but it's a bit of a long story… and I also have a favour to ask you." Yamato said with a smile that turned out to be more like a grimace.

….

"So what you're telling me is that Konoha is working together with akatsuki and the guy who almost got me killed is outside my office waiting for my approval so he can come in and you want Suna to help you fight against Madara and Danzou?" Gaara said his voice still devoid of any emotion.

"W-Well yeah, it's not too much to ask is it?" Naruto asked while scratching the side of his head.

"They have already proven themselves by helping us before so questions of trust have been answered. They have a sort of grudge against Madara." Yamato said.

Gaara sighed and looked towards the door before nodding. Hinata walked to the door and went outside. She came back inside with a very nervous looking Deidara. Gaara looked him dead in the eyes and Deidara almost expected sand to come out of nowhere to squeeze him.

"U-Uh… Okay look, I'm sorry. Don't kill me, yeah." Deidara said.

"I wasn't going to. You should just be a little… wary of my older sister." Gaara said bluntly.

The group talked a little longer on what would be happening. They decided to share their success when Pein called them for a meeting. Deidara was not as nervous as when he first entered but was still cautious.

After everything was settled the group all got separate rooms to stay in. Naturally they had all decided to shower first before eating. To say that Temari and Kankuro were not happy about Deidara would be an understatement.

The blonde sibling had chased Deidara around the table several times before Yamato had stopped them. They had then explained the situation and she was forced to leave the terrorist but not without glaring at him during the entire meal.

….

**A/N: More of a dialogue chapter I guess. And sorry if it seems I'm concentrating more on them but now that they're at their destination and I can time skip a little with the other teams.**


	11. Rainy Days

**Exams are starting and I'm supposed to be studying English… but this counts right?**

…**..**

**Chapter 11: Rainy Days**

"**Atchoo!**" Tenten sneezed in Hidan's direction.

"Ew, look where you're fucking sneezing."

"Sowwi." Tenten's muffled voice replied. Hidan looked surprised as the weapons mistress never ever said sorry to him. Something was definitely wrong.

Neji glanced at his friend with a worried look on his face. They had entered Ame a few hours ago and Tenten had been fine but she had started sneezing about half an hour ago. True to Kakuzu's word, it was a complete downpour. They were soaked in matter of minutes and the fierce cold didn't make it any better.

It was also troublesome while running as they had to move slower to prevent anyone from slipping with Hidan being a prime example. The jashinist had slipped and fallen numerous times trying to prove that they could still move at their normal speed without skidding but failed horribly. Neji didn't mind though as it was a hilarious source of entertainment.

"H-Hey w-we're a-almost t-there, r-right?" Tenten stuttered, her teeth chattering and she sneezed again. She was holding her arms to her body in a feeble attempt at keeping warm which didn't go unnoticed by Neji and Shizune.

"Yeah, it shouldn't be too far now." Kakuzu said, glancing at the brunette. She looked horrible, if he did say so himself. Her face was unusually pale and her eyes were droopy. She was also sniffling nonstop. There was no shelter from the rain and the only thing to do was to keep going.

The longer they ran, the more Tenten found she couldn't keep up. They didn't notice her condition though from the rain that suddenly just started falling harder. There was a fierce ache in her chest and her limbs got heavier the more she ran. Her breathing went from panting to wheezing and she hunched down, holding her knees to help her breath better. she felt hot and cold at the same time. Her head started spinning and it felt as though she would fall over at any moment and she did, onto the cold muddy ground. '**I'm sorry guys**.'

Slowly her vision spotted black until she passed out.

….

'**Ugh, it's so dark. What happened to the light?'**

'**So soft and warm. I wonder where I am.'**

'**Wow, what's that noise?'**

Tenten slowly opened her eyes, blinking rapidly against the brightness until it no longer burned. She was lying on a bed with a small table next to it. There was a glass of water on the table with two pills.

"Good you're awake, drink that next to you."

Tenten looked where the voice came from and saw Kakuzu standing in the doorway. The noise she had previously heard was Hidan snoring on a chair. There was drool running down his chin and Tenten giggled but soon regretted it when she felt how sore her throat was.

"I tell that idiot something as simple as to watch over you and he does this?" Kakuzu walked over to the zealot and kicked him but the sleeping jashinist didn't even move except grumble a few incoherent words.

Tenten tried to sit up but her body felt weak and she ended up falling back on the bed.

"You shouldn't be up yet. Your fever isn't gone yet so just rest."

"Fever? How long was I out?" Tenten said hoarsely while trying once again to sit up and, pushing her pillow against the wall, succeeding. She then drank the water, grateful for the cool sensation down her aching throat, and the two pills.

"Two days."

"**Two days?!** I'm sorry… where are we? And where are the others?"

"They were reading the scrolls here, checking for any information that can help us, though the medic is writing something for your hokage. As for where we are, we're in the akatsuki base."

"We're here already...? Why isn't he doing anything?" Tenten said pointing to Hidan.

"With him around, nothing can really get done because everyone will just get irritated at the garbage he rambles about."

"I'm sorry I can't help. Oh but how did you guys find me?" Kakuzu sighed and grumbled something about 'Too many damn questions' and Tenten gave him an apologetic look before he carried on.

"You forget your friend has his Kekkei Genkai."

**Flashback**

"Where's Tenten?" Neji asked while looking behind him.

"She was just here a few minutes ago." Kakuzu said.

"Sheesh, women. **Fucking seriously**. Are we going to look for her now?" Hidan asked, irritated.

"We have to! We can't leave her behind!" Neji shouted and turned around to look for his friend. Shizune turned around as well and followed the Hyuuga. Hidan gave an exasperated sigh and, along with Kakuzu, followed them.

Neji's byakugan was activated and the feeling of fear kept growing. Then he found her. Her body was almost completely drained of chakra. **'She was using chakra to try and keep up.' **Once he got to her he saw she was out cold and breathing erratically.

Shizune arrived soon after and hurried immediately to Tenten and felt her forehead. She immediately pulled her hand away.

"She has a bad fever! We need to get her out of the rain!"

**End Flashback**

"That was pretty much how it went. We fell so many times but it was like your friend had something keeping him from slipping." Kakuzu explained and at that moment Hidan decided to wake up. He yawned and rubbed his eyes before looking at Tenten and Kakuzu.

"Oh, so you're finally fucking awake eh? Do you know how fucking **boring **it was to just **watch **you sleep? There's nothing to do in this fucking shithole." Hidan snarled.

"Hidan shut up and keep watching her. She still has to rest more." Kakuzu said and turned around, walking out the room.

"**What**?! Are you fucking **serious**?" Hidan whined but Kakuzu left the room before he could complain further. He glared at the weapons mistress with a look that clearly said '**I hope you're happy.'**

Tenten sighed, ignoring the jashinist, and lay down again, getting comfortable before sleep took over.

…

**Team 4**

Kisame pushed the boat into the sea before jumping on himself. The boat steadily drifted further into the ocean with the rest of the team doing whatever things they had to do except Shikamaru who was leaning on the boat deep in thought.

They were so lucky to have someone as strong as Kisame on their team after he saved them numerous times. They had nearly lost Ino to root after they ganged up on her when she wanted to heal an injured Shino. The two were both resting after Ino had insisted she heal Shino. She soon after passed out exhaustion after Shino was stable.

It had Shikamaru thinking about whether he was good enough to be leader. Sure he was smart, but he wasn't that good where strength was concerned. His chakra control was good but he didn't have a vast supply. After trying to save his comrades with Shadow Possession and failing when he ran out of chakra he had a great deal of respect for Kisame after the fish man just jumped into the middle of everything and saved his friends.

Gai had tried to help but he was also surrounded. All he could manage to do was fight without getting too many injuries. Now that they were safe out at sea, they could finally be a little less cautious and actually sleep without jumping awake at the slightest sound with Gai being the perfect example.

The young Nara sighed and walked to where his two friends were resting. When he entered the room he was greeted by Chouji who had a worried look on his face. He looked towards Ino and Shikamaru did as well. She was frowning in her sleep and mumbling, obviously having a dream, maybe even a nightmare that had yet to develop.

Shino looked as though he was sleeping peacefully compared to the blonde but that was probably from the jacket that covered half his face. Shikamaru sighed again. '**Somehow I can't help but think this is my fault.'**

Kisame entered the room.

"Hey brat, you might want to check up on that Gai… He looks like he's gonna puke all over the place."

Shikamaru groaned and exited the room. Sure enough Gai was leaning over the boat and heaving.

"Troublesome."

….

**Team 6**

"Well this is… unfortunate."

Kakashi stared at the snow covered area **alone.** How had this happened again? Oh yes, it was what happened if you mixed a blizzard and root. Now that he was separated from his team, thanks to the dead root shinobi lying on the floor, he would just have to walk in whichever direction his mind tells him to. He really didn't know what way he was facing be it north or east but it was most important to find his team. He started walking to his right.

Somehow Kakashi couldn't help but think that separating him from the team was part of root's plan. For all he knew the whole team had split. It would certainly give root an advantage but then why weren't they sending backup? Madara and Danzou were certainly a lethal combination in confusing people.

He rubbed his hands together. He was freezing, the clothing they received wasn't nearly enough to block out the cold and his fingers felt numb. The violent wind was blowing hard against his face and through his thick jacket. When he rubbed his hair, snow would fall out. It seemed that they had underestimated the weather conditions of the country. Shimo was officially his most hated country with Suna not far behind.

He had hope that he would find his team; after all, they had Sai who could easily fly over and search for him or send out his creatures to scout. He thought of summoning his ninken but then tossed the thought aside when he realized the scents of his team would most probably be gone because of the snow. He sighed and cursed softly. Of all the times this happened it had to happen when they were just about to cross over to Kumo.

…

**Team 1**

Hinata got out of the bath and wrapped a towel around her body. She wringed out her hair and tied it in a tight bun before walking out of the bathroom to get dressed. They had been two days now in Suna and her aching muscles had finally gotten the chance to relax and now all she needed was a nice long rest. Once fully dressed in pajamas she collapsed onto the bed.

They didn't know how long they would be staying in Suna but it would be until all teams arrived safely at their destinations. The heiress knew that all the team's journeys would no doubt be difficult though, thankfully, her team didn't have many hassles with root. Deidara had said that their leader could somehow talk to through to the akatsuki's minds and give orders. That was when they would know when their meetings would take place and that was when all teams would explain their situations, though when the leader would do that was up to him himself.

There was a soft knock on the door and Hinata gave a sigh before reluctantly getting up and opening the door. Outside was one of Gaara's servants and she handed Hinata a note before leaving. Hinata curiously opened the note.

**Report immediately to Kazekage's office.**

**Letter has just arrived from the Godaime. The contents will be read by one of your team members.**

**Gaara**

To say Hinata was surprised was an understatement. Deciding that it wouldn't be appropriate to be there in pajamas, she immediately put on some other clothes and left the room.

….

Hinata entered the room to find that the whole team was already there and waiting for her. She hurriedly went and stood alongside Sakura and waited with the others for Gaara to speak. The kazekage opened his draw and took a scroll out before handing it to Yamato. The wood user was about to protest but Gaara stopped him.

"It is not my business."

Yamato nodded before opening the scroll. He looked to his teammates and they all nodded, signaling him to read it out.

**Team Yamato**

**If you are reading this then you have probably arrived safely at Suna. I will not state my whereabouts as of yet but I will say what I'm planning on doing. I will be looking for Jiraiya. He will be helpful to our task.**

**Wait for instructions from Pein. He will state what to do next.**

**Good luck and be very careful. Do not underestimate the mind power of Danzou and Madara. Everything they are doing will probably be part of something else.**

**Tsunade**

The room was silent for a few minutes, everyone letting the news sink in. Naruto was the first to break the silence.

"Ero-sennin? But he could be anywhere in the country." Naruto said.

"How do we even know that letter was from Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked.

"It has her stamp of approval." Yamato said and showed the scroll to the team. Sakura rolled her eyes at her Shishou taking the stamp with her.

"Um, do you think they purposely let us travel without much trouble?" Hinata asked.

The rest of the team didn't answer. Gaara stood up and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. Deidara sighed and headed to the door as well.

"So we're really going to have to wait for Leader's orders, yeah." Deidara said with another sigh and left the room.

The rest of the team followed suit and headed to their respective rooms.

…

**Team 5**

"Hey can I see what you're writing?" Mezura said trying to look at what Shikaku was writing on a scroll.

"No." He said looking once at her before looking back at his scroll.

"Aw **please**?"

"Again, no. Go sit with Suigetsu or something."

"Che, you're no fun." She said, crossing her arms and heading to Suigetsu, who was cleaning his sword. He frowned once he saw the raven haired shinobi walking his way.

It's not that Shikaku didn't like her; he did, even if it was only a little, it was that he didn't trust her. Not at all. Something about her just wasn't right. No root shinobi in their right mind would simply switch sides like that. Sai hadn't changed that quickly, it all took time. Now if he didn't trust her, he certainly wouldn't allow her to see what he was writing. He was sending a letter to the Hokage, reporting everything, from when they had started their search. Only he and Shizune knew where she was and it was important that no one else knew. He also knew that the meeting place of Danzou had a high chance of being an ambush. They had less than one week to prepare.

He looked towards the sunset and sighed. **'Another day gone.' **

…**..**

**A/N: Yeah, sucky but it was the best I could do with all the exam stuff already taking a chunk of my concentration. **


	12. Proposal

**Chapter 12: Proposal**

**Team 2**

When Pein and his team had arrived at the base, he immediately felt that something was off. He couldn't put his finger on it but something was definitely wrong. Looking to Konan, he saw she had also felt the strange aura surrounding the area. Someone had been there in their absence and had somehow messed things up, that was clear. When they entered nothing had seemed out of the ordinary but in the hallway were things tossed around and the cupboards contents thrown out. Pein headed to his room and Konan went to her room.

Pein was actually not surprised to see his room practically blown apart with all his paperwork lying around, draws pulled out from their cupboards, clothing everywhere, bed turned over and windows smashed. He figured the rest of the rooms had to look exactly the same if not worse.

"Wow, someone had a bad day to do this to your place." Karin said coming into the room and looking around.

"Go search for something in the other rooms. Tell the others to search each room for anything they can find."

Karin left and Pein moved the bed back how it usually was, at the same feeling for any chakra that might help him find the cause of destruction. He had no doubt it was either Madara's work or his henchmen as Danzou wouldn't know where the bases were but he did doubt that there would be any chakra lying around. He moved to pick up the papers on the floor and the open books thrown around the room. Whoever searched sure didn't want to make it discreet and even with the vision of the rinnegan he could see no chakra on any surface. Perhaps it's was on something upside down but he wasn't crazy enough to go turning everything around. The culprit was bound to show himself sooner or later.

He bent down and picked up a thick book.

And then he felt it.

The hardly noticeable amount of chakra on the book.

Pein dropped the book to the floor and clenched his fists. It seemed his old friend Tobi had come in person to wreck his room and everyone else's. The bastard had some nerve to show up considering the things he put them through. There were no other traces of chakra as far he could see and, after finding the culprit, he didn't see a reason to look for any.

Pein hoped the kitchen wasn't wrecked because he desperately needed a cup of coffee. He started walking towards the door but before he could leave his room one of Konan's paper butterflies flew up to him. He opened his hand and the butterfly landed in it. The paper unfolded to reveal Konan's handwriting.

**Tobi's chakra signature was here. I can still feel it somewhere around the base.**

Pein raised his eyebrow decided that now was probably not the best time for coffee. He quickly scoured for a pen and quickly scribbled a reply on the note. The paper then refolded itself into the winged insect and flew back. He sighed and slowly left the room before making his way to the storage cupboard in the hallway. It had also had its contents thrown out but they were all there. Pein picked up a torch and lit it before heading to the basement. He opened the door that led to the basement. The critters that were around scattered away from the light and Pein proceeded down a long staircase, lighting all the torches on the way that were lined against the wall which led into a hallway. The smell in the air was stale and left a foul taste in his mouth. The place probably hadn't been opened in a long time and it was the first time it was getting fresh air.

He kept walking down the long hallway until he reached a rusty metal door. Despite its appearance the door opened easily with little force. Pein entered and closed it behind him. Something in his mind told him Tobi would be here and there the masked man was, sitting on an old dusty table. Pein could just imagine the guy smirking under that mask, feeling all high and mighty.

"Pein-sama! Tobi has missed you!" Pein could hear the mocking tone behind the voice.

"It was you who wrecked the rooms." Pein stated bluntly.

"I had to get your attention somehow and it worked, didn't it?" Tobi's real voice came out but the tone behind it never left.

"What do you want?" Pein's voice was aggravated; all the stress was accumulating and causing his mood to drop and the arrival of Tobi didn't make things any better.

"I've just come to make a… proposition for you." Now Pein was tempted to leave since the masked man's intentions were never pleasant. He could even see the red glint of the sharingan from the one eye hole. He said nothing and let Tobi continue.

"You see I've come to realize that your abilities are quite outstanding. It would be a waste to let those skills lie in… inappropriate hands. So I would like-" Tobi was cut off from his sentence.

"No."

"I haven't even stated my suggestion yet. Don't be hasty."

"No, your plans are not worth my time." He could just imagine Tobi rolling his eyes now.

"Just listen. Come to our side. I don't care much for that Danzou fellow though his shinobi's skills are adequate I think you will work much better." The nonchalant way he stated things just aggravated Pein more. Tobi's true self irritated him more than the fool he pretended to be.

"No, the answer will never change. I have no desire to work with you again." Pein didn't like the idea of him being someone's tool for battle but he also wasn't planning on leaving Konan anytime soon to work with a madman.

"Fine, but the offer still stands. Just think about it. If you don't… let's just say bad things will start happening to those 'teams' of yours. I know about everything that is happening."

"Leave the Konoha shinobi. They have no part in this."

"If you have forgotten already it is all about them. My warnings aren't limited to only the akatsuki. I would suggest that you listen to me and join me now."

"Never again. Leave. **Now**."

"Alright, it's your loss but the offer still stands if you change your mind. You'll understand soon enough by what I mean." Tobi sat for a few seconds in silence before he started disappearing.

Pein watched Tobi disappear into his jutsu. He knew the masked man could be savage if he wanted to but how far would he go?

…...

Konan was busy cleaning her room which looked as though a tornado had torn through it. Pein's room was bad but hers was worse because of the large amount of paper and paper objects in her room. The result was that hardly any floor could be seen. Her bed had a hole in the middle of it and was lying halfway off the frame while her books were strewn across the floor with the pages torn out. Her clothes were all over and the glass that was from a shattered window littered around the window area. Thankfully the shelves that were aligned on the wall had no damage that was noticeable so she still had place to put her origami and colour sheets.

With a lift of her hand, all the paper lifted off the floor and arranged themselves on the shelves, each colour having its own stack and pages from books arranged themselves within their book's covers. Now her bed, the blunette lifted the light mattress onto the frame and placed it in its correct position. Why they put a hole in the bed was puzzling but it just showed how desperate they were for information.

Her room looked fairly normal now except for the clothing and Konan felt relief at being in a semi clean area again. She started picking up clothes when there was a soft rapping at her door. It opened and Pein walked into the room. The blunette continued picking up clothes and asked him a question.

"So, did you find anything?"

When she didn't get a reply she looked up.

"He wants me to work with him again."

Konan raised an eyebrow at the statement as she knew who he was talking about.

"And your reply was?"

"Obviously no, but he made a threat that he's going to do something to the others. We have to have a meeting immediately to inform them to be extremely careful."

"Wait, explain from the beginning."

And he did, starting from when he felt the chakra on his books. Konan was silent throughout his explanation and when he finished, she was deep in thought. Pein waited quietly for her to speak her mind. Though most people would say he was the brains of the akatsuki, a lot of the time he received help from his female companion when he could not think of anything because his ideas had backfired many times.

"He said he knew everything that was going on, right? Then he's probably watching us with Zetsu and forming a plan on how to get rid of us."

"That bit is obvious," Pein nodded, "But the problem is who he is going to target. My best guess would be Itachi and the jinchuuriki. For all we know he could still be collecting the bijuu and Sasuke is probably also a catch on his list." Konan looked thoughtful as she took in his words.

"I think it would be best to call a meeting immediately to inform the others what is going on. They are probably oblivious to Zetsu's spying."

"That is what I was planning on doing. We need to know their whereabouts as well so we know how far away they are from their destinations or if they are already there."

"We should first check if the others found anything of importance then we can call the meeting. Tobi might have left something else behind."

Before the two could do anything more, they heard screams of '**I found it first**', '**give it back before I kill you**' and '**stop before the creepy leader hears you**'. Pein's eyebrow twitched at the last statement but he let it slide, after all, he was a bit on the scary side as even Konan had stated it out before. The door burst open to reveal Karin and Lee fighting over something with Juugo close behind them.

"I found-" Karin began but was cut off.

"-Something that can-" Lee continued while shoving the red head away.

"-Help us in our quest-"

"-Leader-sama!" They both said in unison.

Konan raised an eyebrow at the sight but stayed quiet to see what the group had to offer. Lee wanted to give something to Pein when his hand was pulled by Karin who tried taking something but Lee pulled his hand back and dropped the something into Pein's hands. Karin frowned but said nothing.

Pein observed the piece of paper in his hand that was folded in half with a large M scribbled on the front and unfolded it. What he read made him raise his eyebrow and Konan noticed it. When he was finished he handed her the note and she read it.

**You have been warned and now you must pay the price. If you have not decided by midnight what you will choose, I will make sure to make those teams' lives a living hell. Instead of telling you about it, I will show you. Be prepared to expect the unexpected.**

Konan sighed and rubbed her temples as she could feel a headache coming on. Pein's face was devoid of emotion as always but inside she could tell the wheels were turning in his head, trying to work a way out for them. What was baffling was that Madara was suddenly threatening them when just a half an hour ago he was saying to Pein to think about it. Not much time think and choose if you asked her.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was the note about?" Lee questioned and Pein and Konan glanced at each other before nodding.

"To put it simple, Madara asked me to join him and I declined. Now he wants to make the others teams' lives miserable." Pein explained.

"That's a little petty if you ask me. It sounds like that Madara guy doesn't like playing fair." Karin said, her arms crossing.

"Who plays fair in the world of shinobi?" Lee said.

"Point taken."

….

**Elsewhere…**

"Pein does not seem to be **affected by your threat at all.**"

"Patience, he will soon learn that his refusal will affect his teammates in many ways."

"Also your plan to separate the **team heading to Kumo succeeded**. The two **Uchiha are still** together though."

"That does not deter my plan. Only once the jinchuuriki's team goes on the move again will we start the main strategy to get rid of them all."

"What of **Danzou?"**

"He has some plan as well though for it to be successful… we'll just have to wait and see. He has had another idea as well but for some reason he won't tell me what it is."

"He's probably still working out some things **like he always does**. You two working together really make a **lethal combo in strategy and confusing people**."

"No, fooling them is the easy part as they are all so gullible but the rest of it won't be so easy. The main people we have to watch will be most of the akatsuki bar Deidara and Hidan, Sasuke, the jinchuuriki and the Copy Nin. Those fools could actually ruin our plan if we don't observe them carefully."

"Understood, **but will this all be worth it**?"

"Of course, we're taking things slowly, one step at a time. It will all work out eventually."

….

**A/N: Not much to say really but you know R&R.**


	13. Disaster

**Chapter 13: Disaster**

**Team 6**

"Sasuke, do you see any sign of the others?"

"No, the snow has covered any traces that were left behind."

"Hn, just continue walking, we're bound to run into the others soon enough."

The two had actually been walking for as long as they could remember. Sasuke was starting to lose belief in what walking would actually do. His mind was telling him to face the reality that they were lost. In every direction they looked was snow, snow and more snow and what was worse was that they didn't have any food or water on them. Sure they could just heat the snow to form water but how they would drink it was a problem. Sasuke wished Kurenai had given them each at least one scroll to keep for safety sakes. Their chakra was also drained from having the sharingan on constantly. All in all, they were screwed.

The root shinobi that had so faithfully tried to kill them ended up dying anyway but even then it was like they were just pawn pieces, not afraid of dying for their leader.

It was actually creepy how much respect they had for someone who couldn't care less about them.

"This is stupid. Instead of walking around with no idea where we are, let's just try to look for the others."

"What do you think we have been doing foolish little brother?" Sasuke frowned but said nothing more.

They continued walking for a while longer until they heard bird cries from above. To their surprise and relief, hidden of course, was Sai along with Asuma and Kurenai, Sai on his own bird while the other two shared one. The trio landed a few metres away from the two Uchiha. What they noticed immediately was that Kakashi was not with them. Kurenai seemed to know what they were thinking.

"We haven't found Kakashi yet. We just have to keep searching and find him before **someone else **does." She said and they all knew who she was referring to. Sai drew one more bird for the two Uchiha and it came to life. They got on it and everyone flew off.

….

It was strange walking alone through an area with a thick blanket of snow. For Kakashi it was like travelling through his mind and the harsh cold was like a wakeup call. It was still snowing but not as heavy and the wind had lessened considerably as well. He couldn't feel his feet anymore, whether it was numb from cold or constant walking, he didn't know but what he did know was that he wasn't getting anywhere that he needed to be.

He was frustrated at the amount of time that was wasted when they could have been in Kumo already. He knew who to blame. Yes, it was that fanatic that loved to play with people's minds. It was all just a big game to him and whoever dies doesn't actually matter as long as he gets what he wants. His team could be miles away and he was stuck here, in the middle of nowhere, lost. He continued walking, his feet crunching on the snow, when the felt a presence behind him. He quickly turned around to see nothing at all.

"**Great**, now I'm losing my mind as well."

"Someone looks like he's in a bad mood." Kakashi turned his head around. Speak of the devil.

….

**Team 4**

Shikamaru awoke to shouting on the ship. He blinked until his eyes were accustomed to the light and quickly stood up to check what was happening. When he got outside the whole team was running frantically about trying to do things. It was then that he realized that it was raining very hard and the wind was just as mighty. Shikamaru stopped Kisame who was running like his life was on the line past him to ask what was happening.

"There's a storm coming, a huge one. What is happening now won't be half as bad as when that is here." Kisame replied anxiously and he once again ran about to do his business. What Shikamaru then realized was that Shino and Ino were still out cold.

The Nara swiftly ran into the room where the two were resting. To his surprise Ino's bed was empty but the bug user was still in his. He turned around and ran out check where the blonde teammate was and was surprised when he bumped into who he was looking for. Brown met blue and the Nara quickly stood up and apologised before helping her up.

"We need your help. The wind is blowing the sails hard enough for us to be in danger. Help Kisame take them down quickly. Gai's seasickness is even worse now and he can't do anything at all." Ino said, beside herself with worry. Shikamaru nodded and ran in the direction where Kisame headed before. Sure enough the blue skinned man was pulling on the sail's ropes and Shikamaru went to help him. With much difficulty the two finally managed to pull the sails down.

"Thanks brat. It looks like things are gonna get rough."

"Yeah." The two started running back to where the others were but Kisame stopped abruptly and stared at the wild sea.

"What the fuck…" Shikamaru was confused the fish man's choice of words and looked in the direction as well.

What he saw was possibly one of the most terrifying things he had seen in his entire life.

Heading directly in their direction was a huge swirl of wind and water.

A typhoon.

There was now lightning crackling around them and the waves got even higher and rougher.

Shikamaru knew that the **thing **coming towards them would result in one of two things: either they survive it or they don't. If they did, then they would have had a huge stroke of luck but the boat would most likely be torn to pieces but if they didn't, Mother Nature was probably preventing them from advancing further or Madara was behind it, as farfetched as it sounds, nothing was impossible with that man. The most logical thing for them to do was grab and hold onto something for dear life, but, there was a problem: Shino.

One of them would have to hold onto the bug user to make sure he doesn't drown. For safety sake someone would also have to stay close to Ino as well because they didn't know whether she was up from being fully rested or being purely stubborn. Shikamaru ran towards Shino before it was too late. This was a hitch in their plans. They had definitely forgotten about it being typhoon season.

Shikamaru left the room with Shino, the bug user waking up from being held in an uncomfortable position.

"Sorry Shino, but there have been some extreme changes in our plans." Shino soon found out by what '**extreme**' changes had meant.

With each passing second the massive swirl got closer to the boat and the screams of orders got louder and more frantic until it was as close as it could get without damaging the boat. The person steering the boat was trying desperately to turn the boat in the other direction but it was proving to be useless. By now Shikamaru and the others had nothing left to do but one thing as the swirl approached.

"Hold onto something! Now!"

The last thing Shikamaru remembered was the typhoon clashing with the boat before being knocked out by a stray piece of wood landing on his head.

…

**A/N: :O I'm cruel aren't I? Sorry for short chapter. I am exhausted and it will be longer next time :) or you could just think of it as an opening to something else.**


	14. Meeting

**Chapter 14: Meeting**

**Team 4**

Kisame struggled to keep the three bodies in his arms afloat. He had long since transformed into his shark like body and could easily swim through the water but it was not as easy when you were carrying three people who could not breathe underwater. By some miracle Gai was also swimming as he was not on a boat anymore and his seasickness had subsided.

The waves were still rough and extremely high, less than it was before when the typhoon was there but still considerably high, and it was difficult keeping the heads of his teammates above the water. He was carrying Ino, Shikamaru and Shino. Gai had Chouji on his back. The typhoon was now quite a distance away but was still causing the ocean to toss and turn.

Kisame swam on, wanting nothing more than an island to pop up. He didn't know whether the brats were alive and Ino had sunk pretty far down before he had got to her.

Kisame and Gai continued for a long while more, the sea becoming gradually calmer the further away from the typhoon they swam. Then another miracle happened; a large chunk of wood that was supposedly from their boat floated their way. Kisame, thanking whatever god was looking out for them, sped along with Gai until they reached the chunk and put the four unconscious bodies on it.

Kisame pushed the makeshift boat through the water while Gai immediately started the reviving process on Shikamaru who, in a few minutes, started coughing up large amounts of sea water but remained unconscious. There was a huge purple bruise on Shikamaru's forehead as well. Gai then started on Ino, who took longer than Shikamaru but woke up nonetheless. She coughed up sea water and blinked a few times before rubbing her eyes. When she looked around she drew in a shaky breath and started panicking at her friends states as well as being on a chunk of wood instead of a ship.

Gai ignored the blonde and continued on with Shino who took the least amount of time to revive than the other two and was sitting in no time. Chouji was just unconscious but was still breathing. Gai gave a sigh of relief that no one was lost during the whole ordeal.

"So the brats are fine right? I don't know where we are but keep on the lookout for any islands." Kisame said. Gai could tell he was exhausted but it was understandable, who else could swim directly through a typhoon?

"Right, we have to find one soon. All our supply scrolls are gone." Gai stated.

….

Kisame didn't know how long he had been pushing the boat but he damn sure needed a rest. It felt as though he'd been swimming for ages. All the younger ones were awake now except Shikamaru but after whatever hit him they doubted he would be awake anytime soon. The waves were also much calmer now and almost peaceful.

All of a sudden Gai gave a cheer and pointed to the left.

"Island Ho!"

"About damn time."

….

The island the team arrived on was lush with greenery but they could see no sign of humans living there, in fact it looked as though humans had barely been there. The only sign that there were once people was a half sunk ship that looked as though it had crashed into rocks.

"Wow I'm exhausted. You guys should be happy I saved your butts." Kisame said with a grin.

"Yeah, thanks a lot. I'm going to try to get rid of the bruise on Shikamaru's head. It looks really bad." Ino said with a smile and then headed to Shikamaru who was laying a few metres away. As soon as Ino was done healing the Nara he woke up with a start, almost knocking his head into Ino's. He regretted his decision though as he felt a headache arrive. Then he remembered the cause of it and what caused **that**.

What surprised Shikamaru was that now they were on land, not a **raging sea** but on **land.** The downside was that they were now without a boat to get to their objective.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving so I'm going to go look for something to eat." Chouji said, standing up and dusting himself off.

"A fine idea! I will accompany you!" Gai shouted and marched into the forest ahead of them with Chouji following close behind.

"We should probably move further away from the sea in case high tide comes in."

"Good idea."

The remaining four moved towards a few large trees to their right. Kisame sat down and was about to fall asleep when his eyes snapped open. He then started talking to himself much to the amusement of Ino but the fish man seemed relieved. He then got into a comfortable position before closing his eyes.

"Weird."

"That's an understatement."

….

**Team 6**

"What do you want?"

"Why so scornful Kakashi-san? I haven't done anything to you." Tobi teased the white haired shinobi.

Kakashi begged to differ. He just knew the masked nin was responsible for everything that had happened so far. He narrowed his eyes at the sharingan gazing at him from the one hole in the mask.

"Where are my teammates? What have you done with them?" Kakashi asked fiercely.

"Relax, I'll give you some info to help you calm down. They're looking for you and they're all fine. In fact, if you remain right at this spot they should find you in a matter of minutes."

"Then what do you want?"

"Nothing at all. Just came to tell you that it would probably be best if you turned back, unless you want something to happen to your precious students." His reply was icy and Kakashi knew he wasn't joking.

When Kakashi didn't reply the masked nin continued.

"Especially the one with the pink hair and the jinchuuriki, you seem to have a soft spot for her and that blonde. Wouldn't want anything to happen to them, now would you?"

"Leave them alone! They have nothing to do with this!" The white haired shinobi was inwardly panicking and trying to change the masked shinobi's intentions at all costs.

"Maybe not the pink haired brat but the jinchuuriki has a lot to do with everything."

Kakashi's eyes widened and he stood silent, taking in the information. He knew he should've been on Naruto's team. Why was he so stupid?

"Now I can see there's a war going on in your head so I'll just leave you to think about what I'm saying. Remember the lives of those two are in your hands."

Kakashi didn't even react when the masked nin disappeared. All he could think of was that his pupils were in danger and there was not a thing he could do about it.

….

Itachi was the first to spot the white haired shinobi amongst the snow. He stood out with his attire though his hair blended in fairly well, but when they landed Kakashi seemed to be deep in thought about something, troubled even. Before they could ask what was troubling him he spoke.

"Naruto's team is in trouble. We have to go back."

Asuma and Kurenai glanced at each other.

"To travel back would take days and would be even more dangerous. What's making you say that?"

"Madara just came to me." And then Kakashi explained the whole thing to them.

"So it's go back or have someone injured or killed? What a threat." Asuma said, taking a drag on his cigarette.

The group stood in silence for a while before Itachi starting speaking to himself, or rather, answering to someone. The team watched him curiously as he replied to the imaginary voice in his head. Kakashi was the first to know what was going on.

"Itachi-san it would probably be best and safer if you did that on the bird." Kakashi said and Itachi nodded.

Itachi jumped back onto Sai's bird and sat down cross-legged before closing his eyes.

**Team 3**

Shizune was tired. No, that was an understatement. She was **exhausted.** She didn't know why and healing Tenten didn't help her much. They gathered no information from any scrolls in the building as it was all just old scrolls of reports and finances. Surprisingly the one who was most frustrated was Neji, who had been worrying about his friend as well as helping Shizune. The Hyuuga would snap at anyone who made comments and frown for no apparent reason.

Shizune had sent a message to Tsunade a few days ago and had received a reply yesterday stating she would be there in a few days. The blonde would then explain their plan of action from then. The medic hadn't told anyone about Tsunade's visit yet but rather wanted it to be a surprise.

Then Hidan would also disappear for a few hours and come back all bloody but would be happy. Of course no one complained as having him gone was a blessing. When he was a in a good mood he tended to talk a lot about his adventures to, surprisingly, Tenten who would listen contentedly as she had nothing else to do but stay in bed. No one wanted to risk her fever going sky high again so she had to remain in bed for a few more days for her own safety. During this time Hidan would blab on and on about anything and everything until he talked Tenten to sleep. Sometimes he wouldn't even notice the weapons mistress had fallen asleep and would continue speaking.

Kakuzu was happy that it wasn't him who was being targeted by the jashinist's chatting but instead by someone who actually cared. Tenten was especially curious when Hidan had spoken about how he got his huge weapon. Hidan, who was now happy that someone was that eager, told her everything, from the smallest detail. Neji had tried to sit in during one of those times but quickly got bored or annoyed and left them to go and help Shizune but would sit with his female companion when the zealot was out hunting his sacrifices.

Shizune yawned and decided it was time to head to bed. Just as she was passing the room where Kakuzu was in, she heard him speaking. This was confusing as Hidan was with Tenten and Neji was reading more scrolls. She peeped her head around the door only to find no one else in the room besides the miser. He seemed to be answering to someone. Shizune thought about what was happening and quickly came to a conclusion.

'**Of course! It must be Pein talking to him**.' She swiftly ran back to the room where Tenten was and saw Hidan was replying to no one in particular as well. Hidan rolled his eyes to himself, as if he was annoyed by something, and sat down cross legged on the floor. When Tenten asked him what he was doing, he didn't reply.

….

**Team 1**

The team was all sitting in a room conversing to each other with the kazekage silently watching his guests and reading a book from a chair in a corner. Kankuro had gone to buy new parts for his puppets and Temari was out training. The group had been waiting for any more letters from Tsunade or signs that Pein was going to state their next move but so far there had been nothing.

The one who was more hopeful than the others was Deidara after waking up numerous times to find death letters next to him. The culprit could only be circled to one of Gaara's siblings but he wasn't going to mention that unless he really wanted to die.

"So how much longer do you think we'll be staying here? I mean we don't know anything about what is happening anywhere at all." Sakura said.

"We have no choice but to stay here. If we went out we'd be captured for sure by those freaks." Naruto replied with a frown.

"B-But if Pein has anything for us to do then we'll have to leave anyway." Hinata stated.

"True. Guess we'll just have to wait and see then."

Then Deidara suddenly perked up and started saying things to someone imaginary. The gang looked at him as though he was crazy but he ignored them. The bomber then stood up and headed towards a large pillow and sat on it muttering 'gonna need this' and crossing his legs. Anyone who spoke to him afterwards did not get any replies.

….

**Akatsuki meeting: Main base**

**Astral Projection**

The first of the akatsuki to appear was Kakuzu who was soon followed by a complaining Hidan. Pein and Konan did not need to use their jutsus as they were already in the meeting place with their real bodies.

"Hey leader, you have something for us? It's fucking boring as hell over there!" Hidan's voice was deeper but still annoying.

"You have not yet been informed by the medic?"

"Been informed of what?"

"Then it's fine. She can tell you, just ask her when this meeting is done."

Suddenly Kisame appeared and he did not look happy, in fact he looked anxious. Itachi was next, stoic as ever, and last was Deidara.

"Everyone is here? Good. Now before I say anything else I want you all to explain what has been happening to your teams. Deidara, you first."

"Uh, nothing much has happened, yeah. We got to Suna without much trouble. Soon after we got there, there was a letter from the hokage saying what she was going to do next, yeah. I think she's going to look for someone named Jiraiya. She said we had to wait for more orders from you. That's about it, yeah." Deidara said with a shrug. Pein eyes widened for a fraction of a second before returning to normal when he heard about Jiraiya.

"Good, next: Kakuzu."

"Nothing to report except that one of our members got infected with a fever. We were already close to the base so it wasn't that big of a hassle. There was no information about anything in any of the scrolls as well."

"Itachi."

"Tobi came to one of our members stating that if we don't turn back then other people will be seriously injured or killed, mainly the jinchuuriki and his pink haired friend. He seems to mainly be after the jinchuuriki."

"That is to be expected. Kisame."

"Uh we're in a real pinch over here boss. Our ship was sunk when a typhoon came and now we're on some island who knows where. All our supply scrolls are gone." Pein raised an eyebrow at Kisame's statement.

"No one was lost?"

"No, by some miracle they're all alive. It also looks as though no one had visited the place in a long time."

"Is it possible for you to get to your destination?"

"I doubt it. All we have right now is a chunk of wood from the ship barely big enough for all of us. If we tried building a raft, it could take a long time."

"Then build one. Get to Water Country as soon as possible." Kisame nodded.

"Right. Now you all know Tobi will be starting his plans soon, in fact he came to me as well." Pein said looking at Itachi.

"He tried to make me join his side, but when I refused he left a note saying that I will now face the consequences as well as all the others teams involved.

"Now since that incident has happened I'm going to need everyone to increase their defenses and kill on sight. We have all probably been watched by Zetsu so he will know everything that has already happened and he might even be here right at this very moment in the shadows.

"Deidara, your team has no more to do but will rather return to Konoha and help Shikaku's team investigating. If possible have a few of Suna's shinobi come with." Deidara nodded his head and Pein continued to the next member.

"Itachi, ignore Tobi and continue to your destination." Itachi calmly gazed at Pein and nodded.

"Kakuzu and Hidan, you will soon have a mission to do, courtesy of the hokage."

"Kisame, you already know what to do."

"What will you be doing, yeah?" Deidara asked.

"Finding Tobi."

…

**A/N: Yay early chapter :D **

**Guys check out my other story. If you like the akatsuki and all their mishaps then check it out in my profile.**

**Thanks for all the faves and follows. You guys are awesome and reviews are appreciated ;)**


	15. Trouble

**A/N: So those who wanted Hinata as the main gal, this is most probably the most she will get which could go on till next chapter, not really sure. Hope you guys are happy.**

**Chapter 15: Trouble**

**Team 1**

When Deidara had relayed the message from Pein to his team, they were relieved to finally be doing something instead of sitting around. By that time it was late afternoon, the sun would set in less than two hours and so they decided it would be best to leave early the next morning as night time was when root were most alert.

During supper each of them was lost in their own thoughts so it was silent. Thereafter they each retreated to their respective rooms to pack and get some sleep.

….

**Hinata was at home, before it was destroyed, before anything had happened, that much was obvious. The streets were bustling with excitement and the children were running around but to Hinata it was strange being back at home as if nothing had happened, like it was all just some horrible nightmare. **

**She walked slowly down the streets noticing that something was very odd. There was not a single shinobi in sight. Anyone she recognized as a shinobi did not have their forehead protectors. Her neck also felt oddly bare. She looked down to see her forehead protector was also missing. It just got stranger. Anyone she greeted would give her funny looks, as if they had never seen her before. Then she saw her two teammates Kiba and Shino walking down the street. She ran over to them to greet but Kiba had cocked his head to the side and eyebrows furrowed in confusion and stared at Hinata.**

"**Have we met before?" He finally asked. **

**Hinata was dumbfounded and before she said anything else, she took several steps backwards before running to her home, the Hyuuga compound. What she saw made her heart leap; there was no compound, only more forest.**

"**This can't be happening…" She whispered softly to herself before moving backwards and running back to the village. The first person she saw was an elderly man with graying brown hair. He was carrying a small box. Hinata politely stopped him.**

"**Where are all the shinobi?" The Hyuuga asked in confusion.**

"**Shinobi? Miss, under what rock have you been living under? The Shinobi Age died down decades ago." The man replied, scratching his head in confusion. Now Hinata was more confused than ever. **

**Her legs started moving by themselves, exiting the village, until she eventually got to the forest. She sat under the nearest tree and began to wonder what sort of sick joke it all was when she heard swift footsteps. She looked up to see people that seemed to be running away from something. When one of them noticed her, he immediately tried to attack her. Hinata jumped back in confusion. Who were they? And why did her body feel so heavy?**

**And just as they had appeared they were suddenly gone.**

**Hinata didn't understand what was going on and she stepped back before she knocked into something. She didn't remember any trees behind her.**

**When she turned around a man wearing an orange swirling mask with one eyehole stood behind her. There was a glint of red in the eyehole. She immediately tried to run but his hand grabbed her neck and slammed her against the nearest tree. She couldn't breathe as his hand gripped tighter and tighter.**

"**Goodnight princess."**

…**..**

Hinata awoke with a gasp, drenched in sweat and immediately felt her neck in panic. She was relieved to feel she was fine and it was all just a dream. The nightmare was clearly imprinted in her mind and she remembered almost every detail. What kind of dream was that? It was almost too real and too threatening. And who was the man in the mask? Was it just her mind making up funny things?

She stood up and pulled on the curtain to reveal the rising sun so she knew the nightmare had just begun earlier. She knew that after that strange dream she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep but they were going to leave soon anyway so she stood up and got ready. She had packed the items she needed the night before already so all she needed to do was eat and get dressed.

There was a knock on her door and she raised her eyebrows. She opened the door to reveal one of the servants who looked surprised to see her up.

"Oh you are awake. I was just sent to wake you up. Your breakfast is in ten minutes." She said before leaving.

Hinata quickly got freshened up and dressed before heading to the kitchen.

…

"So what's the plan, yeah?" Deidara asked, munching on toast.

"We have to found Shikaku-san but we don't know where he is. How are we supposed to do that?" Sakura said.

"Maybe he is expecting us and will leave something only we will know about." Naruto attempted with a shrug.

"Root will be suspicious of anything so that will be a bad idea, yeah."

"Maybe Kiba-kun will be able to smell us." Hinata stated.

"It's worth a shot."

"Deidara-san can fly us till the border to avoid sandstorms and then we can run from there." Yamato said.

"Good idea, yeah. That way I won't waste too much chakra as well."

Gaara then came into the room.

"Temari and Kankuro will be going with you. They are still packing so you can go on ahead, they will catch up later."

"But then what about them? There's no way they can catch up to us if we're flying." Sakura asked.

"Maybe we should just wait for them." Naruto said.

"Are you sure about that?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah, that way they will be safe too."

"How many scrolls do we have left?" Hinata asked Yamato.

"We only used one. So we've got all the rest since we only used the camping supplies once."

"That's good. We don't know how many supply scrolls Shikaku-san's team might have leftover." Hinata stated with a nod.

"Then let's go. We can wait for Temari and Kankuro at the gate."

….

The group, Temari and Kankuro included, stood at the gates of Suna waving their goodbyes before Deidara made three birds, Temari, Hinata and Sakura on one, Yamato and Kankuro, and Naruto and Deidara on one.

"So, everyone here's the plan." Yamato shouted to the group from his bird. "Once we reach the border we're going to run. We might not find Shikaku-san in one day. If we did it would be a lucky day because not only would his group be hiding, the area surrounding Konoha is swarming with root shinobi so we have to be careful. Hinata-san can scour the area for us if we need to rest to find a safe area. Understood?"

"Okay!"

…..

**Team 3**

"Hey lady, Leader says you have a mission for us." Hidan said while approaching Shizune who was reading a scroll.

"Yes I do but we are awaiting someone." She replied, not looking up at him.

"We are? But everyone is already fucking here. Who the fuck could we be waiting on?"

"The hokage. Even I do not know much of the details but we are going to find someone." Shizune lied about not knowing the details but he didn't need to know that.

"Oh that's just **great**. So we're going to follow some old hag and find someone we don't even care about?"

"**We** care about him and he could help a lot. I don't know why you're getting so angry."

"I'm not angry! I'm fucking annoyed!"

"That's your problem. Go get your items ready because as soon as she comes we're going to leave. Tell everyone else too."

"Okay fine, just who is this guy anyway?"

"One of the Legendary Sannin. That's all I know."

"Well fuck, ya could've said so sooner."

…

**Team 5**

Earlier that day Shikaku had received a message from Pein stating that Naruto and his team will be heading to his team to help them. He appreciated the help but with root all over the place it would prove difficult to make sure they were safe.

Over the past few days Mezura had been nothing but quiet. Even her annoying personality had taken a 180. She now kept to herself and sat cross legged away from the others whenever they took a rest. It seemed that no one besides him and Suigetsu had noticed the difference in her, not that Suigetsu was complaining, he needed a break from that airhead. Shikaku had used one of the opportunities when she would keep herself away to tell his team that Naruto's team was arriving. Kiba was ecstatic to be seeing his teammate again and would not stop smiling.

They would use Kiba's gifted nose to find them and bring them to safety of the cave they had used for the past few days. It would be much better to try and catch Danzou with more than just five people.

…

**Team 1**

A few hours passed by quickly and in no time the group had arrived at the border of their country due to Deidara flying faster than usual. Each of them swiftly hopped off of the clay birds and Deidara made a hand seal resulting in all of the models to disappear in a puff of smoke. They started running without anyone needing to tell them, their plans echoing inside their heads. Failure was not an option. After a half an hour of running, no one showed any signs of stopping.

But it was then that Yamato noticed that they were being followed.

"Everyone, I think we have company."

"Yeah, I noticed too."

The group stopped abruptly and formed a circled. Five root shinobi emerged from various spots in their surroundings. Though they looked about the same as any other root shinobi, the way they carried themselves seemed different.

"You shall die by our hands. No scum can be allowed to walk around." One of them said.

The whole bunch seemed to pick their targets and everyone began to fight.

Two of them came after Hinata, why she did not know, but the young Hyuuga defended and attacked as much as she could. She managed to give off a few good shots but each time she hit them they seemed to just get back up again, as if mocking her.

"Can't you do better than that?" One of them taunted, wiping a bit of blood from his mouth and Hinata frowned. Was she hitting that soft?

Even with the sight of the byakugan she couldn't see the swift kick aimed for her head coming. She flew into a tree and shakily stood up before being punched in the gut. Her breath was knocked out from her and she bent and held her stomach but was hit in the face.

"You couldn't hope to defeat even one of us." The one stated.

"We are one of Danzou's six elite shinobi." The other said.

'**Six?** **Weren't there five of them? Where's the sixth one?"** Hinata noted with widening eyes.

The Hyuuga then realized that her friends were gone. Not a single one of them were anywhere in her vision. In fact she could only see them if she used her byakugan to scour the area. She also knew it would be no use to fight against the shinobi in front of her: she would die.

Hinata turned tail and ran.

….

**Team 5**

The team was just about to leave to do their daily search. Shikaku then realized Mezura was nowhere to be found. No one had seen her leave and she had said nothing to none of them. Kiba could smell her but it was very faint. Just what was she up to?

The team left their haven and ran to where Kiba could smell Mezura's scent was the strongest. They sprinted until they eventually saw a figure in the deep forest. The figure was indeed Mezura but, she had company, a company of root shinobi that is.

At least twenty root shinobi surrounded the team before they could retreat. Mezura's face broke into a smile.

"Mezura what are you doing?" Suigetsu asked.

"I'm helping my companions, what else?" She replied calmly.

"What!? I thought you were helping us!" Kiba shouted at the raven haired shinobi.

"Hey, you were the ones who assumed. By the way, I'm one of Danzou's strongest shinobi; no way would I ditch him for **you** guys."

"So everything you told us was a lie?!"

"Yes, it's not a problem is it?" Her smile only grew wider, taunting the Inuzuka.

The same time Kiba ran to tackle her was about the same time she pushed a kunai into his stomach.

….

**Hinata**

Hinata was running with the two root shinobi hotly pursuing her. Her legs felt like jelly but she couldn't give up yet, not now, but goddamn they really didn't want to give up did they?

"Stop running. We won't hurt you. Much."

"I'm not going to take that chance!"

The Hyuuga couldn't seem to get rid of them. They kept following her like angry wasps. She had been pushing chakra into her feet to try and speed up but they were just too fast. She stumbled and fell on the ground. The shinobi didn't waste time jumping on her and trying to pin her arms to the floor. She screamed and flailed her arms causing a hit to land the one pinning her on his chest. He fell off her and Hinata quickly stood up, her body screaming in denial, and continued running. Her speed had fallen and they could easily have caught up to her.

She couldn't hear footsteps running anymore. When she turned around there was no one, not even a hint that there had been two psychopaths there a minute ago.

"Where'd they go?" Hinata asked to no one in particular.

"I'm safe…" Hinata whispered softly.

"Not for long."

That was all Hinata heard before a hand covered her mouth and everything went black.

….

**A/N: Well well well?! How was it? Sorry if it was bad. Anyway love you guys, reviews are appreciated.**


	16. Where?

…

**Chapter 16: Where?**

Kiba looked down slowly to see blood- lots of it- falling from a hole where a kunai was shoved into his stomach. He coughed a little and blood dribbled down his chin.

"Shit."

Mezura pulled out the kunai. He let a scream of pain and staggered a few steps backward. He was not prepared for the punch to his face that sent him to the floor.

Akamaru was there in a flash trying to help his best friend but was soon kicked away by none other than Mezura herself who was smirking in delight. To make sure he wouldn't stand up she threw another kunai into the dog's leg with deadly precision. Akamaru let out a wail and Kiba stubbornly tried to get up but to no avail, Mezura put her foot on his head and pushed it into the ground. There was now a pool of blood around him.

Shikaku tried to move past them to get to Kiba but suddenly found a kunai against his throat. One wrong move and it was all over.

"So, any last words? We're going to kill you now so you don't cause any more trouble than you already have. My friends should have killed off your other team by now and gotten what they wanted."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Since these are your last breaths I might as well tell you a few things." Mezura said with a shrug.

"You cannot do that, Mezura." One of the root shinobi protested.

"Shut up, do you want to end up like him?" She threatened, pointing at the injured Kiba, and he backed off.

Shikaku remained quiet and waited on the raven haired shinobi to continue.

"You see, we need a source of information… and for that we need live sources so we're just going to take a few, maybe bring them back if they're lucky. Yeah, we're going to steal a few of you rodents and have fun torturing them for information. That and we're going to ambush as many of your useless teams as we can and kill them as quickly as we can."

"That'll never happen. You guys are way too weak." Suigetsu said.

"Who are the ones surrounded at the moment?" After no comment she smirked. "Thought so."

Meanwhile gears were turning in Shikaku's head, thinking up a plan to get Kiba and get out of there. He could probably use Shadow Possession But there were many of them and since they were all from Konoha they were bound to know his technique and would be prepared for it. Chouza could try and take a few down, mainly Mezura, so that they could have a clear path. They would need a new hiding place after Mezura knew where they were previously.

"Shikaku…" Inoichi whispered to his friend.

"Yes I know. Let's see how this plays out. We get Kiba as soon as they let their guard down."

"When will that be?"

"… I don't know."

Suigetsu flashed them a grin and Shikaku then remembered that his body could become water at will. They hadn't actually fought while Mezura was with them so the female did not know of his ability.

The white haired shinobi started to cautiously move forward.

"Hey, who said you can move?"

"I give myself that permission." Suigetsu broke into a sprint towards Kiba.

Mezura tried to run after him but found she couldn't move. Looking up she saw Shikaku's hand in a seal and it seemed as though it was affecting everyone else as well.

"Just needed a little distraction."

"You bastard! Let me go!"

"Can't do that, sorry." Suigetsu said slinging Kiba over his shoulder and Akamaru on the other. Chouza's body grew larger and he started flattening the other shinobi with his huge fist. As soon as Mezura was down Shikaku let go of his jutsu.

"Let's go!"

…

**Team 1**

Naruto's team had regrouped once again after it seemed as though root had retreated. It was puzzling as it looked like the whole fiasco was just a distraction. Nobody came back with any serious injuries, just a view bruises and cuts, nothing Sakura couldn't handle. The first thing that they did notice though was that someone was missing.

"Hey, where's Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked, while looking around.

"Did she win her battle or did they retreat away from her as well?" Temari wondered out loud.

"Maybe she is still fighting. Let's try and find her before backup comes, yeah." Deidara said.

The group split up once again to find their Hyuuga friend. At first they all thought Hinata was still fighting and was close by but gradually they began to realize Hinata was gone. Sakura had tried to sense her chakra but there was no trace that Hinata had even been in the area. There was no clue that she had even been there with them. Just where was Hinata?

The group searched for hours, high and low, and yet they could not find a trace of the heiress. It was as though she had just disappeared into thin air.

"What if she lost her battle and they got rid of her body?" Kankuro said.

"There would have at least been blood stains **somewhere** right? Besides I don't think that would be the case, they would probably leave the body for all to see just to anger us." Sakura shrugged.

"Yeah but she's **gone**…"

"Let's just search for a while longer."

An hour later and the group had still not found anything. They were tired from the day's rough events and everyone had wanted to rest, everyone but a certain jinchuuriki.

"Why are you guys resting? Hinata-chan could still be around here somewhere and you guys are just sitting here! Come on get up!" The blonde shouted at his team.

"Naruto we've been searching the entire time and yet we found nothing at all. The sun is starting to set. We can rest a bit and then look further tomorrow." Yamato said but Naruto pressed on.

"But what if she's being hurt or is hurt somewhere?"

"She's not defenseless. She'll be fine."

Naruto kept quiet after that but would not stop frowning. He ate quietly and slowly, a large difference from the usual cheery eating style of slurping or crunching. The group couldn't deny the fact that they **wanted **to find the lavender eyed shinobi but after all their hard searches and they came up with **nothing**, it was a given that she could not be in the area but no one had the heart to tell him this.

It was written on all their faces as well as in everyone's thoughts.

Just where had the Hyuuga disappeared to?

….

**Team 6**

Kakashi and his team progressed further into Kumo as ordered by Pein. Kakashi had been relieved to hear that Naruto and his team were fine from Itachi who relayed Deidara's message. They were almost at their destination; they would be in the city in few more hours if they kept up their pace.

"So when we get there, we convince the Raikage and then head back home with or without him? It's a little farfetched as they say that man is a bit on the rash side." Kurenai said.

"Well we came all this way so he might pity us. Or he might pity us for the fact our village is wrecked." Kakashi replied with a small smile.

"Probably. Have you ever met him?"

"No, I don't know what to expect either."

"They say he's amazingly strong though." Asuma stated, drawing in on his cigarette.

"Yes but is he strong **enough?**" Kakashi shrugged.

"You could find out first hand."

"I think I'll pass on that."

…

**Team 1**

Later that day while everyone was sleeping and Sakura was sitting on watch, Temari came outside her tent as she couldn't sleep.

"Rough day, eh?" the blonde said as she took a seat on the hard ground next to Sakura.

"Yeah, it's a little strange isn't it?"

"I actually didn't believe you guys at first when you told us about your own town's shinobi turning against you guys. Now that I've seen it with my own eyes…" Temari shook her head and frowned. "Must've been hard for everyone when it happened first."

"It was, especially for me when I found out we were leaving the village." Sakura said with a nod.

"I can believe that. I would be-" Temari was cut off when they heard rustling in the bushes nearby.

"Who's there?! Show yourself!" Sakura stood up and shouted only to get no movement or reply.

"Was probably an animal or something." The Suna shinobi said with a shrug.

"I doubt it. It was most likely a root shinobi. He's going to report his findings now…" Sakura muttered.

"Then they won't come after us until morning. I'll be right back, just need to get something."

"Okay." Sakura replied. Temari stood up, dusting herself off before retreating to her tent.

Just as Temari was about to enter her shelter she heard a muffled scream and she sharply turned around to see Sakura lose consciousness with someone's hand over her mouth. The person responsible had a hood over his head resulting in Temari unable to identify him.

She ran to him and punched, only to hit air.

"Sorry, I'm just going to borrow her for a while. I've got your Hyuuga friend too." The blonde could hear the smirk in his voice and growled before lunging again.

Sending a kick towards his head, she was so sure it had hit but, to her surprise, her leg went right through him.

The mystery man chuckled. "Sorry but I can't be staying long. I'll take **good **care of them both." Temari was surprised yet again when the man started disappearing into a vortex.

"Just what the hell are they up against?"

…

"So you're saying a man just took off with Sakura?" Yamato asked.

"Yes, he's got Hinata as well but that's not the strange part. He just disappeared into thin air." Temari nodded and frowned.

"Why didn't you wake us up?!" Naruto yelled at her and she cringed. She also felt guilty, why couldn't he see that?

"Listen, if I had done that then he would have escaped in the time I was waking you guys up! I had to do something!"

"Naruto, relax. Temari, was there anything else that was strange?" Yamato pressed on.

"Yeah, when I kicked him it just went straight through him, like hitting air."

The group seemed to think about it for a moment.

"That is probably Tobi, yeah." Deidara said with a frown.

"He would come out himself and do business himself?" Yamato asked.

"Well yeah, Pein said something about him being a perfectionist and how he hated failures, yeah." Deidara shrugged.

"So he relies on his own skills, eh? We could draw him out like that." Kankuro said with a smirk.

"But we have nothing he wants." Naruto frowned.

"Sure we do, yeah." Deidara said and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"No way! Why me?" Naruto shouted at him.

"Well maybe he still wants the bijuu, yeah."

"No, that's too dangerous. He could end up succeeding and then it's all over." Yamato said, rejecting the idea.

"True I guess. Maybe that other guy from the other team can help us. He's supposed to be some sort of genius right, yeah?" Deidara attempted.

"Good idea but we don't know **when** we will find him or **if **we'll even find him."

"Then we should start searching tomorrow. Everyone continue the night watch as normal so everyone can get a fair amount of rest."

"As soon as we pack up in the morning we can go."

The group agreed and everyone was about to return to their tents when they heard something from their blonde jinchuuriki.

"I wonder what he's doing to them right now." Naruto said with a frown.

"If he even tried to get close to Sakura she'd probably hit his head clean off his neck, yeah." Deidara shrugged with a hint of a smirk on his face.

"Hinata would gentle fist his balls. No babies for him." Kankuro laughed at the image.

Naruto smiled despite himself and wished that his two friends were alright.

…

**Team 3**

Tenten was awoken roughly when she was tossed over someone's shoulder. She yelped in surprise and looked to see Hidan frowning.

"Sorry kid. That old hag is here and we got to leave now." The jashinist said.

"Old hag?" Tenten said while rubbing her eyes.

"You know, what was it now? Oh yeah, your hokage."

"Oh but what's she doing here?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Tenten frowned when she realized she was still over his shoulder.

"I can walk you know."

"Can't risk it. That medic while kill me if you're still sick and I let you walk."

"That was a few days ago. I'm fine now!"

"We'll leave that for her to check."

Tenten crossed her arms and sighed in defeat and let the zealot carry her to where everyone was waiting.

Neji raised an eyebrow at the strange sight and smirked at the look on Tenten's face. She clearly wasn't enjoying it. Tsunade was standing there, tapping her feet in impatience with her arms crossed.

"Everyone's here? Then we should leave."

"Tsunade-sama, where are we going?"

"Kusa. We're going to get Jiraiya. He's doing his so-called 'research' there for his new book."

"Ah, but can we leave with her still like that?" Neji said, pointing at the female still on Hidan's shoulder.

Tsunade walked over to them and had Tenten lie down on the floor. She quickly checked the brunette.

"She's perfectly fine. You underestimate your medic."

"I apologise."

"Okay, let's go. We have to get there before Jiraiya leaves to another village."

…

**A/N: This is the only update you guys will have for the next two to three weeks. I'm going to be hella busy so sorry but I just won't have time to update my fanfics.**

**Reviews are appreciated :)**


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